I agree that Dawson is just about ready. He may be in a bit of a catch-22 position in that young players rarely come into the senior side as play makers. More often, they're asked to be "role players" until they've proven themselves. I think Dawson will be a better player than, say, Robinson quite quickly (not meant as a knock on Robinson, but Dawson is taller, marks better and has a better kick on him) but Robinson has proven himself disciplined enough to play defensively at senior level. When you're the gun player in the NEAFL side, it's a bit harder to prove your readiness for such a role. I doubt there'd have been a player in an opposition side in the NEAFL this year that warranted giving Dawson a shut down role, just to see how he might go.

If I were to be ultra-critical of Dawson's game last weekend, there were at least three (maybe a couple more) instances where he had a short, unpressured kick that missed the target by a significant distance. In each case I can remember, these were across half-back and led to scoring opportunities for the Thunder (who were mostly unable to capitalise on them). These were dead easy kicks, and given how good his kicking mostly is, I presume these poor kicks were down to a lack of concentration. I imagine the coaches will want him to get these out of his game at NEAFL level, because at senior level they would have each gifted a goal to the opposition.