PORT Adelaide spearhead Charlie Dixon admits coming out of contract is playing on his mind, but has declared he can play for "three or four" more years providing he can get his troublesome body right.
So far, the hulking key forward, who turns 30 in September and will play at 110kg, is ticking every box with a full pre-season ahead of Friday's intra-club game at Alberton Oval.
The badly broken leg and dislocated ankle that kept him out for 10 months are fully healed and he's in a much better headspace than last year when he played just nine games.
Entering his 10th season, a frank and honest Dixon said his time in the game had flown by.
"I'm 29, turning 30 this year, and we always had older players come to the club and tell us that before you blink, you'll be towards the end and you don't really take notice of that and then here I am, 29 and towards the end of my career and you're like, those old blokes were bloody right," Dixon told reporters on Tuesday.
"I think I can still play for another three or four years if my body holds up and I want to do that, but the same thing is, 'Am I going to have a spot in the team? Can I still produce on game day?'
"There's all these questions you ask yourself when you get a little bit older and you see these young blokes come through and knocking on the door.
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"I want to play for as long as I can and as long as my body will let me.
"Sometimes it feels like it doesn't want to go anymore, but I reckon I've got a few more years left in me."
Dixon is leaner despite putting on a couple of kilograms.
"Everyone thinks I've lost a few kilos, but I'm actually a little bit heavier, but just a little bit leaner and able to cover the ground fairly well," he said.
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"I'm probably about 108-110kg, still a little bit heavier than I want to be, but play at 110kg.
"I was a bit lighter last year because I didn't have the work into my body and didn't have the strength.
"Over my break, I usually let myself blow out a fair bit, but this time I tried to keep it around the 110kg mark and kept training through my break because I didn't have much of a year last year.
"I wanted to do a full pre-season and be fit and be able to produce game-day, week in and week out and not fall over the edge and fall into a hole.
"I want to do as much pre-season as I can, just to try and do everything I could so I could come into the season and be confident in my body."
Dixon has shown in his past four seasons at the Power that he can be a match-winner, but he hasn't dominated consistently, kicking 118 goals in 70 games after signing a five-year deal from Gold Coast at the end of 2015.
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"I am turning 30 (in September), but I haven't felt this way in a while," he said.
"My 2017 season was probably my best to date, but I think I've got stuff to improve on from that year.
"It's been up and down, that's the way football is.
"Nothing's ever going to go your way every time, so you've got to fight through your ups and downs.
"Sometimes there feels like there's a few more downs than there are ups, but I'm fighting through that."
