Re: Kieran Dixon : Tue Sep 01, 2015 3:44 am  

Please don't misunderstand me. I think that Kieran Dixon is a nice lad. He is also a very fast runner. But he finds it difficult to tackle -- which was a glaring weakness when played for London Broncos -- and he has shown a bit of inconsistency under the high ball, being especially awful on the biggest stage of all. His antics, in not actually challenging the high ball, on the occasion when Thomas Briscoe then ran 90 metres to score, would have been comical had they not been so tragic in their consequences. It was unfortunate that after his mistake Dixon did not chase Briscoe, when the much slower winger Joshua Mantellato did unsuccessfully, and given that Kenneth Sio also raced from the other side of the field and tackled Briscoe, but just not in time to stop the try.

On other occasions Dixon has looked good running with ball in hand. But I think that his defensive weaknesses outweigh his talents, and therefore I feel that he is just not cut out for big time rugby league.

Re: Kieran Dixon : Tue Sep 01, 2015 9:14 am  

The lad just had a mare, and picked a bad day for it. Get over yourself FFS.

Re: Kieran Dixon : Tue Sep 01, 2015 12:37 pm  

Absolutely right Ferocious - the lad has a lot of potential but had a bad day but in his defence he still looked the only one other than a subdued Kelly likely to break the Leeds defence

Re: Kieran Dixon : Tue Sep 01, 2015 12:59 pm  

I thought Dixon played pretty well in the 1st half, obviously had a nightmare 2nd half, but then so did the rest of the team.

He's worth sticking with IMO.

Re: Kieran Dixon : Tue Sep 01, 2015 5:08 pm  

Him wrote: I do feel a bit harsh having a go at Dixon, but I don't think his performance was anywhere near good enough for a full time pro player. Whilst I agree with the posters complaining of poor skills but I think the major factor in his poor performance was his attitude. He didn't seem properly focussed on what needed to be done in that game. I noticed that when the TV coverage went to the KR dressing room pre-match that he was writing something on the tape around his wrist. Now either he needs help determining his right hand from his left or he was writing a message/name on there to hold up to the camera when he'd scored a try. I know it's only a minor thing but I really don't think that's anything like the right mentality for a huge game like that. Then add in his lack of support runs and not timing properly the few support runs he did make and of course the far too many knock ons and, in my incredibly inexpert opinion, I reckon he was in very much the wrong frame of mind. In complete contrast to the Leeds players. Now Dixon obviously wasn't alone in this in the KR team. But I think it was most obvious from Dixon. As Jon Wilkin said on the TV coverage, KR have to change that kind of mentality to a more professional one and that comes from the very top of the club all the way through it. Things like the 10-5 bar might be a good place to start. Hopefully Jamie Peacock will help in this regard, but the club management have to embrace and implement it in all aspects of the club. The writing on tape thing isn't necessarily a sign of bad attitude. Some players write family members on their wrist, a reminder of who they're doing it for. Others write things they need to focus on more. Matt Moltzen at Penrith writes "Talk" and "Speed" on his wrists apparently, while Soward writes “Don’t carry your divots”. This is worth a read for further examples: http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all- ... i-hard-men I think Dixon is a player with a load of potential, and I think under the right coach he could be a very good player. But I also think he comes across on the pitch as a mentally weak player. He has games where he makes no errors, but then if he makes one, he's got a fair chance of making a couple more as his head goes down. This year he made 6 knock ons in a match against Salford, 3 errors on two occasions, and 2 errors on six occasions. Yet only in 3 matches has he made 1 error, and 5 matches he has made no errors at all in. This (IMO) mental weakness is obviously something that's very difficult to reconcile with playing fullback, as it is a lot easier to hide after an error on the wing than it is at fullback.

Him wrote: I do feel a bit harsh having a go at Dixon, but I don't think his performance was anywhere near good enough for a full time pro player. Whilst I agree with the posters complaining of poor skills but I think the major factor in his poor performance was his attitude. He didn't seem properly focussed on what needed to be done in that game. I noticed that when the TV coverage went to the KR dressing room pre-match that he was writing something on the tape around his wrist. Now either he needs help determining his right hand from his left or he was writing a message/name on there to hold up to the camera when he'd scored a try. I know it's only a minor thing but I really don't think that's anything like the right mentality for a huge game like that. Then add in his lack of support runs and not timing properly the few support runs he did make and of course the far too many knock ons and, in my incredibly inexpert opinion, I reckon he was in very much the wrong frame of mind. In complete contrast to the Leeds players. Now Dixon obviously wasn't alone in this in the KR team. But I think it was most obvious from Dixon. As Jon Wilkin said on the TV coverage, KR have to change that kind of mentality to a more professional one and that comes from the very top of the club all the way through it. Things like the 10-5 bar might be a good place to start. Hopefully Jamie Peacock will help in this regard, but the club management have to embrace and implement it in all aspects of the club. The writing on tape thing isn't necessarily a sign of bad attitude. Some players write family members on their wrist, a reminder of who they're doing it for. Others write things they need to focus on more. Matt Moltzen at Penrith writes "Talk" and "Speed" on his wrists apparently, while Soward writes “Don’t carry your divots”. This is worth a read for further examples: http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all- ... i-hard-men I think Dixon is a player with a load of potential, and I think under the right coach he could be a very good player. But I also think he comes across on the pitch as a mentally weak player. He has games where he makes no errors, but then if he makes one, he's got a fair chance of making a couple more as his head goes down. This year he made 6 knock ons in a match against Salford, 3 errors on two occasions, and 2 errors on six occasions. Yet only in 3 matches has he made 1 error, and 5 matches he has made no errors at all in. This (IMO) mental weakness is obviously something that's very difficult to reconcile with playing fullback, as it is a lot easier to hide after an error on the wing than it is at fullback.

Re: Kieran Dixon : Tue Sep 01, 2015 5:33 pm  

Saint #1 wrote:

I think Dixon is a player with a load of potential, and I think under the right coach he could be a very good player. But I also think he comes across on the pitch as a mentally weak player. He has games where he makes no errors, but then if he makes one, he's got a fair chance of making a couple more as his head goes down. This year he made 6 knock ons in a match against Salford, 3 errors on two occasions, and 2 errors on six occasions. Yet only in 3 matches has he made 1 error, and 5 matches he has made no errors at all in. This (IMO) mental weakness is obviously something that's very difficult to reconcile with playing fullback, as it is a lot easier to hide after an error on the wing than it is at fullback.

Agree with all that. And it is more difficult at full back where you're more exposed than virtually any other position and you often only have limited but important activities. A second rower can just get their head down and tackle anything that moves.
It's possibly where he needed a bit more help from his wingers to take over for a few sets and help ease him back in to the game.

Re: Kieran Dixon : Tue Sep 01, 2015 5:59 pm  

After such a visibly catastrophic performance the kid needs his fans to rally around him.

Tough enough for him to get through this without the usual knee-jerk brigade dumping on him.

Re: Kieran Dixon : Tue Sep 01, 2015 6:15 pm  

Diablo1967 wrote:

Dixon does that every single time I've seen him. I think the errors in his game will never be coached out. Like Eden and Caro.

Chesters desperation to have his best player out there showed. Kelly was nowhere near fit or injury-free. Arrogance.

The only thing this tells me is that you don't know what arrogance means.

Re: Kieran Dixon : Tue Sep 01, 2015 10:42 pm  

Him wrote:

Agree with all that. And it is more difficult at full back where you're more exposed than virtually any other position and you often only have limited but important activities. A second rower can just get their head down and tackle anything that moves.
It's possibly where he needed a bit more help from his wingers to take over for a few sets and help ease him back in to the game.

The problem with his wingers taking over, and I say this as someone who has played fullback for the last 8 years, is that as soon as you let your wingers take over, you are telling everything your head has gone. It's one thing to make errors and have people suspect your confidence has gone, but hiding on the wing for a couple of sets is much worse than that, even if only for kick returns. It would just come across as "I don't want to be on this pitch anymore" IMO.

Re: Kieran Dixon : Wed Sep 02, 2015 6:26 am  

What they could do on high kicks is run interference and risk penalties, but at least give him a shot at catching the ball. Similarly the wingers could make sure they were in support when fielding long kicks to take a pass and make the run. Its still hiding him a bit, but better than just leaving him to it.

FWIW my main criticism of him is around the collision - he really doesn't look up for it sometimes. Given the game he plays, he really needs to get over that issue. If he can't he'll never be better than he is now.