Kieran Dixon

Quote: Him "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: 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.