Port Adelaide forward Charlie Dixon has rapidly rebounded from his costly AFL brain-fade, teammate Brad Ebert says.
Dixon took longer than the prescribed 30 seconds to take a shot at goal when Port held a three-point lead against Geelong last Thursday night.
Dixon was called to play on, Port bumbled the scoring chance and Geelong's Patrick Dangerfield soon kicked the match-winning goal.
Dixon's was roundly criticised for his lack of awareness but teammate Ebert said the Power attacker had moved on from his error.
"He has been good. He rebounded really well," Ebert told reporters on Monday.
"He was obviously really disappointed straight afterwards. And since then he has been able to put it in the past and move on.
"He was disappointed about it but there's nothing you can do about it now."
Ebert, who plays his 200th AFL game against Hawthorn on Thursday night, said it was the first time had seen such an incident.
"To happen at that time was interesting," he said.
"But the rule is there and it's in place and I guess Charlie will speed up next time."
Ebert said there was also some onus on Dixon's teammates to offer help.
"As the guy who takes the mark and is going back for the shot, you do get focused and you probably go into your routine which you feel is a set amount of time," he said.
"So the other guys around probably could have been a bit more aware."
Port's narrow loss in Geelong was the club's fourth defeat of the season, all against likely finalists - Adelaide, Greater Western Sydney, West Coast and the Cats.
But Ebert said the eighth-placed Power (five wins, four losses) were in contention in all those games, offering heart the club wasn't far off the finals pace.
"We as a team are trying to grow and build across the season and so far our losses have been disappointing but we are showing improvement," he said.
"We really just need to make sure that we can take that to the next step."
Share
