Charlie Dixon signs new deal with Port Adelaide, Trent McKenzie set to extend his deal next
Charlie Dixon has committed to a new contract at Port Adelaide, but not before he received significant interest from several rival clubs. See why he decided to stay.
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Charlie Dixon says falling in love with Adelaide was the key reason he extended his stay at Port Adelaide for an extra three years.
Dixon became the second Port Adelaide player this week to extend his stay at Alberton until 2023 at the earliest as he joined Sam Powell-Pepper in recommitting to the Power.
The new three-year deal comes after Crows football director Mark Ricciuto had tongues wagging when he suggested on his breakfast Triple M show that Brisbane were prepared to offer Dixon a four-year deal to return to Queensland.
Power football manager Chris Davies said Ricciuto “was absolutely correct” in the information he received about Dixon.
“Charlie had a number of clubs who were after him, but he decided to stay, which is great for us,” he said.
“He’s a guy who is such a beacon of strength for us, guys walk taller around him.
“He is a really important signature and as you heard last week there were plenty of clubs after his signature.”
Dixon said he originally thought he would head home to Queensland when he first arrived at Port Adelaide from the Gold Coast in 2015, but said Adelaide had won his heart.
“There is always going to be that talk but I’ve made Adelaide my home now… I sort of did think about some other options butat the end of the day it just didn’t feel right for me and the right fit was Port Adelaide,” he said.
“Over my last couple of years here the club has done a lot for me, they’ve helped me not just in my football but my off-fieldstuff as well.
“I suppose my first couple of years here it was my first winter coming from Queensland and I was like it seems like it’s rainingevery day maybe I’ll just do my five years and then retire and go back home to Queensland.
“But I’ve fallen in love with Adelaide and I can’t really see myself anywhere else, I love the place, I love the people Ilove the club
“Adelaide has changed me and I can see myself long term here, so it was an easy decision in the end.”
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Powell-Pepper, 22, has played 71 games since being drafted with Pick 18 in 2016 and has captured career-best form as part of the Power’s midfield this season.
His signature is expected to be followed by full-back Trent McKenzie before finals.
“This club has always supported me since I walked in the door in 2016 and I could not be happier to stay for at least another three years,” said Powell-Pepper, who lives with former captain Travis Boak.
“The people here are like family and it feels like home. I can’t wait to see what we can achieve together this year and in the future.”
Powell-Pepper said speculation he was on the trade table last year was just that, and he wanted to remain a one-club player at the Power.
“There was a bit of speculation in the media last year but I love the club and was never going to leave,” he said.
“It didn’t (affect me) because I knew what was going on behind closed doors. Kenny (Hinkley) and myself were really keen on the future and the speculation didn’t faze me too much.
“Before the freeze (this year) I was pretty keen on signing on and it worked out all right.”
He credited the influence of teammate and housemate Boak for helping him develop into a consistent AFL footballer and the club’s work on building connection and resilience for making him feel at home.
“Credit to him (Boak) for taking me under his wing and I’ve definitely learnt quite a bit off him.
“He’s like a big brother and he talks about how your form is up and down and you just have to stick at it. Myself and Travis have pretty much spent every second of every day together doing recovery, and we’ve bonded even more during the Covid break so it’s just consistency and sticking at it.
“Over the past couple of years we’ve made a big emphasis on connection, on the field and off the field, we do a lot of resilience work and sometimes sit down and do a few activities or open up to each other, and I think it’s brought us closer together.
“It’s important for me and the younger boys who have come from interstate.”
Asked whether he believes the ladder-leading Power can go all the way this year, Powell-Pepper said that was the plan.
“That would be the dream,” he said.
McKenzie is set to be rewarded for his breakout season with longer-term security, having signed three consecutive one-year deals since joining the Power in 2018.
The 28-year-old is arguably the best story of Port Adelaide’s season after managing just one game in each of the past two years and admitting he considered having a crack as an NFL punter last summer.
But this year when the departure of Dougal Howard opened up a spot in Port Adelaide’s backline, McKenzie grabbed it and has been nothing short of a revelation playing 12 of a possible 14 games.
His kicking efficiency is 81.6 per cent – above average of all key defenders in the competition – he leads the club in intercept marks and is considered above average by Champion Data for disposals, metres gained and marks across the league.
It’s a far cry from the defender who walked slow laps around Noosa Oval with his head down and arm in a sling as he recovered from shoulder surgery at the end of 2018.
“I think everyone at our footy club is thrilled for Trent because he’s had to do it hard for a couple of years to get into the team,” coach Ken Hinkley said.
“It was all around reward for what he’d done and his performance and now he looks a really solid part of our back seven. I just hope he can continue to do that for another six or eight weeks.
“Trent’s always shown from his young days before he was injured he was a strong, fierce competitor, he’s got some weapons – his kick is one and his speed another – and his strength now, he’s a matured man and he just wins physical battles.
“There was always enough talent in Trent McKenzie’s football, it was just getting an opportunity to show it.”
McKenzie’s agent James Pitcher confirmed he had been in talks with Port Adelaide’s list manager Jason Cripps and was confident the defender would remain at Alberton next year.
While Pitcher said there was no expectation of a multi-year deal, News Corp understands McKenzie has shown enough to secure one and it will be completed in coming weeks.
McKenzie was one of Gold Coast’s inaugural signings as a 17-year-old and played 106 games in seven years before his body began to let him down and he was delisted at the end of 2017.
His former coach Guy McKenna had seen enough to know he was a quality player but more importantly so had his assistant at the time – Ken Hinkley.
“He was never a defender in his early days, we played him on the wing and it was only through necessity we had to send him back at Gold Coast,” McKenna said this week.
“We played North Melbourne on a wet night at Metricon and Trent sat behind the ball by himself and he was like a goal-keeper, and I reckon Kenny was around to witness that as well.
“He’s a good mark for his size, plays tall, and gets the free ball behind the play, and off one step he can really hurt a modern-day zone.”
McKenna said McKenzie was one of his favourites at Gold Coast and he’s thrilled to see him kicking on at Port Adelaide.
“I’d seen his older brother at Williamstown and he was as hard as a cat’s head and all of a sudden Trent emerged on our radar as a 17-year-old,” McKenna said.
“He was playing in the VFL as a teenager against men and fearless and hard, and I don’t think he gets enough kudos for that.
“He’s physically hard because he puts his body on the line but he’s mentally hard because he keeps at it and because of his laconic nature I don’t think people give him enough credit for that.
“Port gave him a lifeline but there would have been an adjustment of going to a new state and finding his feet, and now he’s over his injuries he has a role clearly defined thanks to Kenny and he’s up and running. We all need a bit of confidence and belief from a coach and he’s got that.”
Liam Pickering from McKenzie’s management group said Hinkley was crucial to McKenzie’s revival.
“He’s got the best out of him and Charlie (Dixon) because he has a great relationship with his players,” Pickering said.
“He is a story of perseverance and faith from his coach because Kenny has been his biggest fan and he’s getting some rewards now.
“Trent just couldn’t get on the park towards the end at Gold Coast, he was stuck on 99 games for ages and at one stage I said ‘are you going to play your 100th?’
“He’s always been highly rated by other clubs and Port to their credit they gave him a chance because he hadn’t played for two years.
“I’m not sure how close he came (to getting cut by Port) but they picked him towards the back end of last year, he played some good SANFL footy, came in and played well in the AFL, got him an extension for this year and he hasn’t put a foot wrong.
“I’m not surprised by what he’s done, I’ve always rated him, he just needed a run at it.”
Fellow Power defender Hamish Hartlett said McKenzie had become “incredibly reliable” for the team.
“He’s strong in the contest, marks the footy when he gets a good look at it and has a beautiful left-foot kick which helps us,” Hartlett said.
“He played some really good footy in the SANFL last year and didn’t get an opportunity until late in the season but he’s capitalised on that.
“I’m not really surprised by what he’s done this year, he didn’t have a great run in terms of injuries but once he got consistent training and games under his belt, we could see he’s a really strong player for us so I’m happy his opportunity has come and he’s playing great footy.”
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Originally published as Charlie Dixon signs new deal with Port Adelaide, Trent McKenzie set to extend his deal next