# Charlie Dixon (Australian footballer)

Charlie Dixon (born 23 September 1990) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Gold Coast and Port Adelaide in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was recruited by the Gold Coast Football Club as a Queensland zoned selection made available to Gold Coast under the AFL's draft concessions. He scored the first ever goal in the history of the Gold Coast Suns, in their first ever match on 2 April 2011 against Carlton.

## Early life and junior football

Dixon was born and raised in Cairns, Queensland. His parents both played basketball in their younger years and Charlie began playing basketball at the age of four where he made several junior representative sides through the eight years he played the sport.
Dixon began playing junior football with the Redlynch Lions Football Club in 2003. He would then join the Cairns Saints Football Club and made the seniors team at the age of 16. In his last game for the Saints he played in the 2007 AFL Cairns Grand Final on his 17th birthday; the Saints would finish runners-up.
Following graduation from high school at the end of 2007, he and his brother moved to Brisbane, where they were invited to play for the Redland Bombers in the AFL Queensland State League. He worked his way through the Redland ranks before playing for the senior side in 2008. In August 2008, Dixon was the first player ever to sign a contract with the newly formed Gold Coast Football Club for their inaugural year in the TAC Cup. At the beginning of the 2009 TAC Cup season, Dixon was named vice-captain of the club. He played 15 games for the season and also represented the Queensland under 18 teams in the AFL Under 18 Championships 3 times and was a standout.
Dixon's efforts in 2009 would see him officially drafted to the Gold Coast team at the start of 2010 by way of the local talent access selection. In the 2010 season with Gold Coast competing in the Victorian Football League, Dixon was again a standout when he finished the year with 22 goals from 14 games. Halfway through the season Dixon broke the player's code and was sent down to play for the Labrador Tigers for one match before returning to the VFL. He, along with teammate Brandon Matera, were the two leading goalkickers for the Suns in the 2010 VFL season.

## AFL career
### Gold Coast

He made his debut in Round 2, 2011 in the Gold Coast Suns' inaugural AFL match against Carlton at the Gabba, with Dixon kicking two of the Suns' goals in their heavy loss, including the club's first ever goal. Two weeks later it was found that Dixon had been playing half-blind his entire football career and required contact lenses. In Round 5, wearing contacts for the first time, Dixon was part of Gold Coast's first AFL victory over Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium and kicked two goals during the win. He would continue to play each game until round 6 when the Suns suffered their second-worst loss to date, a 139-point loss to the Essendon Bombers. Dixon was subsequently dropped and struggled to regain fitness which would only see him return to the senior side five more times for the season. He ended the 2011 season with 6 goals from 10 games.
Following the 2012 pre-season in which Dixon raced the clock to gain fitness, he managed to shed 5 kg and would return in round 5 against the North Melbourne Kangaroos, kicking two goals in the process. He was then tested in the ruck position for the next few games. In round 7 he suffered a soft tissue injury that would rule him out for 7 games. Upon return Dixon was tried in defence for the Suns and subsequently shone in the following weeks against the likes of Tom Hawkins, Jack Riewoldt and Jonathan Brown.
On 4 July 2015, in a win over North Melbourne, Dixon became the first Suns player to kick seven goals in a game.

### Port Adelaide

In the 2015 AFL Trade Period Dixon was traded to Port Adelaide. At the end of the 2020 AFL season, Dixon finished outright second in the Coleman Medal and earned his first All-Australian selection. He was also Port Adelaide's leading goalkicker, kicking 34 goals in 18 games.
Dixon announced his retirement from the AFL after the conclusion of the 2024 season.

## Statistics

    Statistics are correct to the end of round 22, 2022
| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Votes |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | H/O | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | H/O | Votes |
| 2011 | Gold Coast | 23 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 39 | 38 | 77 | 14 | 18 | 9 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 7.7 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 0 |
| 2012 | Gold Coast | 23 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 89 | 62 | 151 | 48 | 21 | 93 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 7.4 | 5.2 | 12.6 | 4.0 | 1.8 | 7.8 | 0 |
| 2013 | Gold Coast | 23 | 13 | 19 | 7 | 93 | 73 | 166 | 42 | 31 | 135 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 7.2 | 5.6 | 12.8 | 3.2 | 2.4 | 10.4 | 4 |
| 2014 | Gold Coast | 23 | 14 | 24 | 9 | 74 | 55 | 129 | 37 | 28 | 69 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 5.3 | 3.9 | 9.2 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 4.9 | 0 |
| 2015 | Gold Coast | 23 | 16 | 41 | 15 | 102 | 49 | 151 | 59 | 27 | 32 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 6.4 | 3.1 | 9.4 | 3.7 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 6 |
| 2016 | Port Adelaide | 22 | 18 | 30 | 16 | 102 | 103 | 205 | 70 | 31 | 21 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 11.4 | 3.9 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 2 |
| 2017 | Port Adelaide | 22 | 23 | 49 | 30 | 218 | 117 | 335 | 149 | 71 | 29 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 9.5 | 5.1 | 14.6 | 6.5 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 8 |
| 2018 | Port Adelaide | 22 | 20 | 26 | 24 | 158 | 107 | 265 | 82 | 51 | 159 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 7.9 | 5.6 | 13.3 | 4.1 | 2.6 | 8.0 | 3 |
| 2019 | Port Adelaide | 22 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 61 | 40 | 101 | 29 | 19 | 23 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 6.8 | 4.4 | 11.2 | 3.2 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 0 |
| 2020 | Port Adelaide | 22 | 18 | 34 | 21 | 110 | 60 | 170 | 69 | 30 | 46 | 1.9 | 1.2 | 6.1 | 3.3 | 9.4 | 3.8 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 9 |
| 2021 | Port Adelaide | 22 | 24 | 48 | 24 | 178 | 117 | 295 | 97 | 50 | 104 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 7.4 | 4.9 | 12.3 | 4.0 | 2.1 | 4.3 | 3 |
| 2022 | Port Adelaide | 22 | 11 | 16 | 7 | 84 | 72 | 156 | 37 | 24 | 81 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 7.6 | 6.6 | 14.2 | 3.4 | 2.2 | 7.4 | |
| Career | Career | Career | 188 | 310 | 174 | 1308 | 893 | 2201 | 733 | 401 | 801 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 7.0 | 4.8 | 11.7 | 3.9 | 2.1 | 4.3 | 35 |
Notes
* ↑ The 2020 season was played with 17 home-and-away matches per team (down from 22) and 16-minute quarters with time on (down from 20-minute quarters with time on) due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.