AFTER a career that included an Ovens and Murray premiership with Albury and 54 AFL games with Sydney and Brisbane Lions, Wodonga’s Ben Fixter has retired.
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Fixter, 33, was recruited by the Bulldogs this year as one of a number of experienced midfielders targeted in the off-season, but wasn’t able to shake niggling injuries.
Fixter hasn’t played since making his debut for the Bulldogs in their round 1 win over North Albury, with general soreness leading to him being a late withdrawal at least twice.
Wodonga coach Dean Harding paid tribute to a player who displayed “an unconditional attack on the ball”.
“He’s a tough player with an exceptional body of work,” Harding said.
“When you talk to the likes of Daniel Bradshaw, he rates him as someone who is just as tough as players like Michael Voss and the Scott brothers.
“It’d pretty hard to think of a more impressive endorsement than that.”
Harding said it was disappointing to lose Fixter at this stage of the season, but said the former Albury wrecking ball would stay on at the Bulldogs as an assistant coach.
“He just couldn’t get himself right, and he didn’t feel as though he could perform at the standard he wanted and the team needs at the moment,” Harding said.
“But to have him stay around the club is a massive win for us.
“He’ll pass on that absolute desire to win the footy, the strong attack that was his trademark, which is something I think this group desperately needs.”
The Dogs have fallen out of the top five after their second loss in as many weeks, with Harding slamming the effort produced by his players against the Magpies.
“We only had 40-odd tackles for the day, in this competition you need twice that to be competitive,” he said.
“The leaders we have out on the field need to start stepping up when the heat is on, we can’t keep relying on Jarrod Twitt and Daniel Bradshaw to be marshalling the troops.
“Players like Jackson Russell, Matt Seiter, Josh Hicks are the ones who need to start taking some responsibility.
“We’ve talked for a long time about the potential shown by the young group of players we have, but those young players have got between 40 and 60 games under their belt now.
“Youth isn’t an excuse any more.
“We saw what we were capable of early in the season, and we just haven’t produced the same effort since.
“This side has enough experience to know what’s going on.”
