I'll never understand how people can watch Dixon spend the whole game presenting as high as half back to make and impact contests, and provide a target for us coming out of defence, and then say the problem is workrate or effort or intent.
He works ******* hard.
Comparisons to Franklin are stupid. Franklin is a once in a generation (historically, once in a lifetime) player. If every player worse than peak Franklin is a bad player then there are no good forwards in the league.
Comparisons to Nick Riewoldt are barking up the wrong tree, too. One of Riewoldt's greatest strengths was his incredible aerobic capacity. I guess it's technically possible that Dixon has the same tank and nobody's ever bothered to develop it, but it seems unlikely. You have to play (and be coached to play) to your strengths.
We cannot question if he's working hard. We can, and absolutely should, question if he's working smart. Some of that is on Dixon, some of it is on the coaches. Concrete hands is him. Not seeing the ball is him (though maybe his vision problem is as good as it's ever going to get). But the wrestling and the not leading? There's not often space for him to lead into - our structure still seems to rely on using Dixon to create space and opportunities for smalls and crumbers instead. Pushing up to half back, or stints in the ruck? He's doing what he's told to by the coaches.
He works ******* hard.
Comparisons to Franklin are stupid. Franklin is a once in a generation (historically, once in a lifetime) player. If every player worse than peak Franklin is a bad player then there are no good forwards in the league.
Comparisons to Nick Riewoldt are barking up the wrong tree, too. One of Riewoldt's greatest strengths was his incredible aerobic capacity. I guess it's technically possible that Dixon has the same tank and nobody's ever bothered to develop it, but it seems unlikely. You have to play (and be coached to play) to your strengths.
We cannot question if he's working hard. We can, and absolutely should, question if he's working smart. Some of that is on Dixon, some of it is on the coaches. Concrete hands is him. Not seeing the ball is him (though maybe his vision problem is as good as it's ever going to get). But the wrestling and the not leading? There's not often space for him to lead into - our structure still seems to rely on using Dixon to create space and opportunities for smalls and crumbers instead. Pushing up to half back, or stints in the ruck? He's doing what he's told to by the coaches.