CHARLIE DIXON’s absence from Port Adelaide training has had a silver lining for the club’s forwards, according to third-year flyer Mitch Georgiades.

After bursting onto the scene with 40 goals in his first 28 games, Georgiades is aiming for more consistency and development in 2022.

With fellow forward Charlie Dixon on the comeback trail following ankle surgery and watching training from the sidelines, Georgiades has used the opportunity to test himself on some of the best defenders in the competition.

“At Alberton we’ve got some amazing defenders in Aliir (Aliir) and Tom Jonas,” Georgiades explained during a press conference on Wednesday. “It’s good to get some practice under those boys who normally go to Charlie.

“To have them playing on me is a great learning curve. It’s good for all of us to have that experience.”

Dixon is expected to be in contention to play in Port Adelaide’s season opener against Brisbane next month but Georgiades said regardless of whether the club’s 2021 leading goalscorer was on the park, others needed to step up and carry more of the load in the forward line.

“Charlie is obviously such a big part of our team and there’s no doubt about that. He’s been there for years and he’s so strong at what he does,” Georgiades said.

“For us, we do have to step up, whether he’s playing or not. We want to kick more goals, be better players, keep improving every year – whether it’s myself, Jez (Jeremy Finlayson), Todd (Marshall) – all of us need to step up whether he’s back or not.

“I think we have the ability to all play together, we’ve all got different talents and ability to get up and down the ground between Jez, Todd and myself, and we know what Charlie brings so it’s about getting that to work together.”

Georgiades has had a very different pre-season, having been allowed before Christmas to remain in Perth and complete his program at the Claremont Football Club, to ensure he could spend the festive period with his family and avoid being locked out of Western Australia due to border closures.

With a solid block of training under his belt since returning to Adelaide last month, the 20-year-old is eager to get into matches, and has set a goal to have more of an impact on games, not just the scoreboard.

“I’m feeling really good. It’s been a solid few weeks and especially the last couple of weeks has been a big load,” he said.

“I’m really enjoying it. It’s been a bit of a different pre-season for me, spending time back in Perth before (Christmas) but it’s good to be over here now and it’s getting to that exciting time of the year.

“You want to be kicking goals and marking and all that sort of stuff but that comes along with it if I’m continuing to build stuff into my game that will allow me to kick more goals.

“It’s more about getting up the ground, being more mobile when the ball hits the ground.

“We’ve got such a talented forward line up there so it’s all about getting that to work together and seeing how that goes.”

Georgiades said he had been impressed so far with the training performances of some of the younger players on the list, but he singled out Greater Western Sydney recruit Finlayson – who was enjoying his birthday on Wednesday – for special praise.

“Lots of the young boys are looking really strong,” Georgiades said. “Whether it’s Josh Sinn, we’ve got Lachie Jones looking really good, Jackson Mead, obviously Zak Butters is flying and Jez is looking really good.

“Jez is such a mobile forward. He competes really well in the air and then on the ground he’s really exciting.

“He’s been able to go into the ruck as well and play a real key role in there as well, flying around in the ruck and then coming forward and resting.”

Port Adelaide will hold an internal trial next Friday before playing a pre-season trial game against Gold Coast on February 25.

It will complete its pre-season preparations with an AAMI Community Series hit-out against the Crows on March 5.