Deep Dive: Why Port need Charlie Dixon at his best to make a finals charge
Charlie Dixon may well be in his last year, but his game against the Tigers proves one thing, writes MATT TURNER. If the Power are going to contend again, they need their big man up and going.
Port Adelaide
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Charlie Dixon is speaking like a player who may be in his final season.
“It gets (harder) more mentally than anything,” the 33-year-old spearhead told Fox Footy after Port Adelaide’s grinding, 41-point home win over Richmond.
“My body is feeling good for once – I’ve probably played three games in two months.
“I’m just happy to be out here, but it’s definitely a mental challenge to get up every week and keep showing up.
“I’m still out here, I think I can still do it, so I’ll see how I go.”
Before Saturday night, when Dixon kicked a game-high 4.2 to be one of the Power’s best, he was looking like a player with little more to give.
His previous match at Adelaide Oval was a one-disposal, zero-mark shocker against Carlton that led to him being subbed off.
It was the low point of a goalless three-game stretch that came either side of being given a one-week spell “managed”.
Port dropped Dixon post-bye on the back of the Blues defeat.
Around that period, Power coach Ken Hinkley kept it real with the veteran.
“I asked him the question when it was challenging to put him into the team – does he want to fight?,” Hinkley said.
“I said to (forwards coach) Chad (Cornes) one thing I’ve learnt in this game having been in football for a long time is if you want somebody to fight, pick a fight.
“I picked a fight with Charlie whether he did want to keep going and, credit to him, he showed the fight.”
Hinkley and Dixon go back a long way.
Dixon was Gold Coast’s first ever player signing in August 2008, 12 months ahead of Hinkley’s arrival at the club as an assistant coach.
The duo met when the Suns were preparing to rise from the Victorian under-18s competition to the VFL.
Three years after leaving Gold Coast to become coach of Port Adelaide, Hinkley headed back to Queensland in August 2015 to pitch to Dixon about joining the Power.
Dixon played his 150th game for the club on Saturday night.
“Everyone knows that I’m a massive Charlie Dixon fan and I have been for a long, long, long time,” Hinkley said.
“What I love is he gives me everything he has possibly got when he puts it out there for us.
“He’s worked really hard to get back to AFL football and I’m really proud of him.”
While Dixon was out of the side, he slimmed down and the Power turned to the future.
Charlie-like pack crasher Ollie Lord (22), high flyer Mitch Georgiades (22) and the crafty Todd Marshall (25) led the attack with 28-year-old Jeremy Finlayson.
But you always got the sense that if Port was to go on a finals run, it would need Dixon back and playing well.
His return in the loss to the Suns last week was modest: one goal, nine disposals, three marks.
So the 200cm forward’s impressive showing on Saturday night came a little out of the blue.
Even more so when you consider he had to contend with Richmond star Noah Balta as well as difficult, slippery conditions.
Dixon finished with five contested marks – three more than anyone else on the ground and his most since round 20 last year – and his second four-goal haul of the season.
“He put up a great fight tonight,” Hinkley said.
“He was really important.”
Fox Footy’s David King described Dixon’s performance as “probably the shining light” in the Power’s victory.
Colleague Mark Ricciuto added: “It’s come out of nowhere – he’s been battling big time”.
Dixon has played 12 of the Power’s 18 games this year.
He has booted 17.15.
Despite his form struggles, Port is 8-4 with him in the team in 2024 and 2-3 without.
The Queenslander still makes the Power better.
His significance is heightened because Marshall (20 goals from 17 games) and Lord (six from six) have hardly fired, and Finlayson is sidelined for the remainder of the season because of a lacerated spleen.
Georgiades, who has kicked 30 majors from 14 matches in his return from a serious knee injury, has been by far Port’s most consistent forward.
He told this masthead Dixon remained a key cog in the Power’s top-eight push.
“He’s a beast and we know what he can do, you’ve seen it in the past,” Georgiades said.
“To have him back doing that sort of stuff, it’s so good for the team and where we’re going this year.
“It was also awesome for Charlie.
“He’s not had the greatest year by his standards, but for him to stand up tonight was huge.”
Georgiades said Dixon’s support to his fellow forwards when he was out of the side was noticed.
“Pre-game, every captain’s run, he was there,” he said.
“To have his knowledge and presence around the group was huge.
“For us to go far each year, we’re going to need lots of players to stand up and he’s one.”
Dixon wanted to feature in each of the Power’s remaining five minor-round matches.
Hinkley said the big man still might be rested if there was an opportunity and he needed one.
“He’s had a lot of rests and breaks already this year,” he said.
Georgiades said Dixon’s body was feeling good.
“He’s had a bit of time off, he’s first into the club sitting into the ice baths and all over his recovery,” he said.
As for whether Dixon, who is out of contract at season’s end, will play on in 2025.
“I’m sure he can, it’s up to him,” Georgiades said.
If Dixon is not the Power’s most important forward, it is goalsneak Willie Rioli.
Rioli had been out of the AFL line-up for the previous six games, first with a calf injury, then illness, then for personal reasons.
Port won two and lost four of those matches.
With him this year, the team has a 9-3 record.
Rioli had eight disposals against the Tigers, but it felt like more, such was his influence.
He kicked two goals.
“Every time he goes near the ball, you know something’s going to happen,” Georgiades said.
“He kicks goals and does special things setting up goals.
“It’s really nice to have him back.”
Asked what Rioli did for him on the field, Georgiades said: “He puts the ball where I want it”.
“And I have so much confidence kicking to him knowing he’ll get it done.
“He’s huge for us.”
Like with Dixon, you expect Rioli will need to have a big say on Port’s tricky, upcoming fixture – Carlton away, Sydney home, Melbourne away, Adelaide home, Fremantle away – if the Power is to reach or win finals.
He is the side’s only premiership player (2018 with West Coast).
And he has the X-factor and smarts to swing a final or cut-throat game in limited possessions.
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