The Gold Coast SUNS longest serving player, Charlie Dixon, has put pen to paper, extending his playing career at the club until the end of the 2015 season.
Dixon joins a growing list of young Gold Coast SUNS stars, who have all recommitted to the SUNS during the 2012 season.
The 21-year-old Cairns product was amongst the first players signed by Gold Coast Football Club in 2008.
Dixon said he was ecstatic to extend his playing career with the GC SUNS.
It means a lot to me to re-sign with the SUNS. The Gold Coast Football Club has been fantastic to me since I came down from Cairns and being an original player with the club makes it that little more special.
Dixon’s signing is the latest coup for the GC SUNS, who have successfully retained the majority of their rising young stars as the club continue to build towards a period of sustained success.
Seeing this club succeed does mean a lot to me and I really believe we are building something special here in Queensland.
General Manager – Football Operations, Marcus Ashcroft said Dixon had been a constant at the GC SUNS over the past four years, and believes the 200cm key position player will continue to improve.
“Charlie was one of our first players, he has been through an awful lot with the club and he continues to improve as a player.”
“Being a Queenslander, he is someone that our fans identified with early in his career. He is also a great example of the pathway that now exists following the introduction of the Gold Coast SUNS to young Queensland footballers who have the ability to make it at the elite level.”
Dixon, who kicked the GC SUNS first ever Toyota AFL Premiership goal against Carlton in Round 2, 2011, said he pinpointed his improvement on his professionalism.
I still have a lot of improvement in me, but last year I knew I needed to get better, I concentrated on improving my professionalism and I think it worked
Ashcroft agreed with Dixon’s thoughts.
“There is no doubts that Charlie has benefitted from the hard work he did over last pre-season, he is notably fitter and stronger and even though he still recognises he has a long way to go to reach his potential, he is certainly making a lot of progress and we are confident that we will once again see this improve over the 2013 pre-season.”
Dixon joins team mates David Swallow, Sam Day, Harley Bennell, Tom Lynch, Brandon Matera, Jeremy Taylor, Luke Russell, Jaeger O’Meara and Alex Sexton who have all extended their contracts with the GC SUNS this season.
We are really pleased to have Charlie join an impressive list of players who are displaying real commitment to the club, that inturn gives us great confidence that the players believe in our program and are determined to deliver success for the Gold Coast Football Club and our fans, Ashcroft said.
