Charlie Dixon looking as fit and strong as ever as he puts ankle injury aside to join Travis Boak in intensive US training camp
How much can you read into a six-second video of Port Adelaide key forward Charlie Dixon from the other side of the world? A lot – particularly entering the most important season of his career and a critical year for his club. Watch the video here.
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How much can you read into a six-second video of Charlie Dixon from the other side of the world? A lot.
As Port Adelaide’s 1-4 year players returned for pre-season training on Monday, a video was posted to Instagram showing their 29-year-old teammate looking as fit, lean, strong and agile as ever in his four years at the club.
Pretty handy that, given Dixon is out of contract this season.
Finally injury free after an horrific broken ankle hijacked his past 12 months, Dixon out-bodied and out-marked Wes Schweitzer who is an offensive guard with the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL and listed as 196cm and 145kg.
The ankle that required multiple surgeries and kept him out of football until June last year, and even then played its part in restricting him to just nine AFL games for the season, was under serious duress in the video and Dixon did not miss a beat.
It’s clear Dixon - one of Port Adelaide’s barometers - is a long way in front of where he was this time last year.
This time last year he was still recovering from ankle surgery after breaking his leg in the Round 21 loss to West Coast.
He hadn’t started training and would not run until December, and even then it was on a special weight-bearing treadmill and he would ultimately require more surgery in March.
Last season was challenging for him on and off the field and he bravely spoke at length about the difficulties he faced mentally while trying to recover physically.
He returned to footy via the SANFL, broke back into Port Adelaide’s AFL team in Round 14 and kicked a goal in five consecutive games before being dropped.
“He hasn’t had the greatest preparation, clearly, when you have 10 months away it’s a long time to catch up, that doesn’t mean he can’t come back and play for us next week or the week after,” Port coach Ken Hinkley said at the time.
Dixon later told The Advertiser he was focusing too much on his own game rather than what he could do to help the team and he needed to go back to the SANFL to rediscover what made him a good teammate.
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The man mountain returned in Round 21 and kicked 10 goals in the final three games of the season and took eight contested marks which was a good way to finish a trying year.
But when the dust settled on a season in which he only played nine games, Dixon would have quickly realised that 2020 needs to be a big one.
Not least of all because his five-year contract is due to expire at the end of the season and turning 30 in September means he should still have good footy in front of him.
While he’s been good, most Power fans would probably feel they are yet to see the absolute best of him at least on a consistent basis anyway.
He played 65 games for 94 goals at the Gold Coast and has kicked 118 goals in 70 games for the Power.
So in preparation for 2020 - as significant to Dixon’s future as it is to Ken Hinkley’s coaching tenure and the club’s 150th anniversary celebrations - who better to shadow than his former captain Travis Boak.
Boak has just wound back the clock in the most spectacular fashion by winning the club’s best-and-fairest at the age of 31.
Boak is borderline obsessive about his preparation and physical performance and the only thing holding Dixon back from dominating games regularly has been his body.
Get that right and anything is possible.
So together they have spent the past two weeks training at the Red Bull High Performance Centre in California where they’ve been grappling, lifting weights, stretching, kicking and marking.
Alongside them has been Western Bulldogs star Marcus Bontempelli who like Boak is another of the competition’s most powerful athletes.
Port Adelaide’s senior players are not due back at the club until November 18 but all were given off-season fitness programs to follow, and judging by the small amount of evidence shared online, Dixon has done that and more.
And if whatever Boak is doing rubs off on him then fans can at least take heart in knowing their key forward is doing everything in his power to stand and deliver in arguably the most important year of his career and a critical one for the club as well.
reece.homfray@news.com.au