Jack Watts defends Charlie Dixon’s role in Port Adelaide’s loss to Hawthorn

Port Adelaide forward Jack Watts says Charlie Dixon’s scoreboard impact extends well beyond his own boot and critics of the man mountain are off the mark.

Port Adelaide forward Jack Watts says Charlie Dixon’s scoreboard impact extends well beyond his own boot and critics of the man mountain are off the mark.

Dixon’s one-goal game in Saturday’s three-point loss to Hawthorn drew criticism from Fox Footy commentators, but he finished with six score involvements and two direct goal assists.

Dixon was involved in three of Port Adelaide’s first five goals, took three contested marks and tapped the ball to Robbie Gray for a goal in the third term while kicking a 50m goal himself in the last.

FALLOUT: PORT IN DANGER OF MISSING FINALS

INJURY: SLIDING DOORS MOMENT ENDS HARTLETT’S SEASON

But he was guilty of contributing to Port Adelaide’s ill-discipline with a double-50m penalty — for infringing on the exclusion zone and then mouthing off — which resulted in a goal to the Hawks at an important time in the game.

Dixon has kicked seven goals in 10 games this season, which is a long way off his season total of 49 last year.

And Port Adelaide’s average score of 83.5 points per game is well down on last year’s 98.5.

But Watts said Dixon was executing his role and it was up to the forwards group as a whole to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

“I thought he was really strong. His contest work and he gets the No. 1 defender every single week, and when we’re not moving the ball quickly it’s often Dicko v three or four defenders,” Watts said.

“He brings so much to our team with contests and bringing the ball to ground, and he’s a very selfless player as well.

“He certainly contributes more than just on the scoreboard but I’m sure he’d like to kick a few more as well.”

Charlie Dixon celebrates his goal against Hawthorn.

Watts said speed of ball movement was crucial in scoring.

“When we get the ball in there quickly we feel pretty dangerous and if we can get one-on-ones, that’s where we feel we can do a lot of damage.

“But if we can’t do that and we’re going slow, and we don’t move the ball around and change lanes, it makes it pretty difficult, especially against a team like Hawthorn they come off and help each other and get numbers back.

“We know what we want to do and we’re trying our butts off to get it into motion out on the field, and you can probably see it just hasn’t quite clicked yet. But we are working our arses off to try to get it fluid and on instinct.

“You see the good teams have the same team in for a couple of years and that’s what we’re working towards.

“We’ve had a few different changes and injuries, we’ve got to get something going and we’ll look forward to get back out there next week.

“We lose by one kick in the end and it’s a huge price to pay — four points.”