Sporting identity Bill Dixon to coach Geelong West Cricket Club this summer
It wasn’t quite a guarantee, but a Geelong sporting identity thought he was done with coaching cricket clubs. Until his step son planted a seed.
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It wasn’t quite a vow, but Geelong sporting identity Bill Dixon was pretty sure he was done with coaching cricket clubs.
After recent stints with Murgheboluc and South Barwon in GCA1 – leading both to finals appearances – he stepped away from the Swans at the end of the 2020-21 season to watch his sons Nick and Scott play for Greenvale CC.
“I didn’t think I would be jumping back into the coaching but that’s cricket, mate, that’s life,” Dixon said.
“It certainly wasn’t on my radar. I pretty much was (done).”
However, after discussions with former Rams captain and step son Alex Buckwell, Dixon had initially considered a consultant-style role last season.
“We had some banter last year about me coming on and I was close to doing a bit of just rocking up and helping,” he said.
“But it didn’t work out.”
Buckwell then proposed Dixon come on board full time and refine some of the plans of previous mentor Justin McPhee, with the club needing a fresh start.
After getting the tick of approval from his partner Chelsea, Dixon was signed up.
He will also mentor key Ram Noah Craven-Briggs’ coaching skills, but not necessarily with a view of the latter taking over down the track.
“It’s not black and white,” Dixon said of future arrangements.
“It might be another avenue he might go down in the future.”
Bringing on former Geelong cricketer Jack Clapham as captain, Dixon said the club had the “starting points” in place before early planning is completed and presented to the Rams in coming weeks.
Dixon enters the scene with Geelong West finishing seventh last season in GCA2 after a promotion in 2021-22.
He said improvement across the board was the only way forward.
“I believe if you come up a grade, no matter where you play ... you have to improve,” he said.
“And you have to understand the competition will be significantly better.
“That’s what we’ll be looking to do.
“If we do, the results will look after themselves.”
When asked about his coaching ethos, Dixon was straight down the line.
“Consolidate the fundamentals, train hard and the outcome will be the net result of what effort you bring during the week,” he said.
“Certainly I’m no superstar coach who comes with any miracles.”
He will also look to develop second grade players after the Rams won the premiership last season, having done something similar at Murgheboluc.
“I think the majority of those boys have got the ability to step up and play first grade cricket,” he said.
“At South we had some unbelievable cricketers, so you learn a lot from them.
“It’ll be the same when we walk into West, I’ll be learning as much as they’ll be learning.”
In a Facebook post, the club said it was stoked to access Dixon’s “rich background in coaching” and “wealth of experience”.
Originally published as Sporting identity Bill Dixon to coach Geelong West Cricket Club this summer
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