Tex Walker and Charlie Dixon and the fall of two great white hopes

It has been a tough year for the two key forwards who carry the overloaded hopes of the Adelaide and Port Adelaide AFL teams. And it will not get easier for Taylor Walker and Charlie Dixon. Vote in our poll.

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Taylor Walker ignores his critics, but he hears them. Charlie Dixon is even more dismissive.

It has been a tough year for the two key forwards who carry the overloaded hopes of the Adelaide and Port Adelaide AFL teams. And it will not get easier as the Crows and Power continue to struggle with scoring, increasing the expectation on Walker and Dixon.

There also is the rising pressure on Crows coach Don Pyke to justify his unwavering faith in Walker and Power mentor Ken Hinkley to find the second go-to peg in any forward tandem involving Dixon.

Charlie Dixon of the Power. Picture: AAP Image/David Mariuz

Taylor Walker of the Crows. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Walker has played in all of Adelaide’s 18 home-and-away games this season, although many question if this unbroken run would have held up had the Crows taken the captaincy from him during the summer.

Walker has kicked 29.20 with goals in all but two games this season (the opener against Hawthorn and in round 10 against AFL premier West Coast, both times at Adelaide Oval).

For all the numbers that can be downloaded from the Champion Data computers that feed the frenzy of official AFL statistics, it is the video clips of Walker failing to impose himself in marking contests and in winning the ball off the ground that have tormented “Tex” this season. “Centre half-forward who plays like a half-forward flanker,” is the common review of the 193cm, 100kg Walker.

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One of Australian football’s most-experienced scribes, the Melbourne-based Mike Sheahan is far more blunt. He says of Walker: “Taylor gives the impression he’s much tougher and more aggressive than he is. He fits the definition of the flat track bully.”

Sheahan traces the fall of Walker to the 2017 AFL grand final loss to Richmond at the MCG. He says: “I don’t think he’s recovered from that. I think his self-esteem took a massive hammering that day.”

Dixon has played just five AFL games this season. His return from the significant leg and ankle injuries he suffered in a marking contest at Adelaide Oval against West Coast in August was delayed by physical complications that required more surgery and mental challenges that are far from gone.

In his five-match run in the AFL — that was broken with a return to the SANFL at the weekend — Dixon kicked 6.8. There was no blank sheet in any of these five games.

Since leaving Gold Coast at the end of 2015 — on a deal that is always is over-inflated to add as much as $300,000 to Dixon’s real annual salary — Dixon has played 66 games for the Power and kicked 111 goals (18 more than in his 65 matches with the Suns).

Dixon’s best season tally is 49.30 in 23 AFL matches in 2017. This was followed by 26.24 in 20 games last season and the six from five this season. Sheahan is far from impressed by these numbers.

“Charlie Dixon’s almost the most over-rated player in the competition in the last two years,” Sheahan said on SEN radio. “(In) his last 25 games, he’s kicked 32 goals as the big forward.

“He’s played 131 games for two clubs; he’s kicked 205 goals. That’s not good enough. That’s not even one and a half a game.”

Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley defends Dixon, one of his hand-chosen recruits. He responded to Sheahan’s hit on Dixon saying his 200cm key forward is valued for far more than goals kicked.

Pyke says the same of Walker, emphasising last week that he never considered dropping the Crows co-captain because of the leadership he offers.

Walker’s selection does seem heavily loaded on the captaincy rather than the return to the scoreboard, however. Fellow key forward Josh Jenkins was dropped after the first four games of the season after chalking up 50 disposals, 20 marks, eight tackles and 4.4 against Hawthorn, Sydney, Geelong and North Melbourne.

This line in the sand disappeared for Walker (but not Eddie Betts) in the lead-up to Saturday’s game against Carlton. By the numbers, Walker’s four games against Geelong, Port Adelaide, Gold Coast and Essendon amounted to — 46 disposals, 19 marks, four tackles and 7.2 with the Suns game (three goals) inflating the counters.

However, Walker is the co-captain.

If the SANFL still had to put together a State-of-Origin selection panel, it would be tormented with the lack of SA-aligned key forwards to put in the red jumper. Walker (Broken Hill) and Dixon (Queensland) would be assigned to the Allies.

But if you are working a fantasy team and the last spot was to be filled by either Walker or Dixon, who would get the nod? Sheahan would seem to prefer to play one short.