The man known as ‘Tex’ sat out an entire year after suffering a knee injury in 2013, but he showed last weekend that he was back somewhere near his damaging best with a five goal haul against the Gold Coast Suns.
Dawson said Walker was a crucial addition to a Crows team that already possessed a very talented midfield.
“I think he straightens them up a lot,” he said.
“Walker’s presence helps make it more of a one-on-one in their forward line instead of defenders rolling off.
“Instead of having that one key target, where most teams can roll off to that single target, they’ve got two targets now with Walker and Josh Jenkins, and James Podsiadly even is playing as a high half forward.
“It’ll take all three talls in our defence to be on those guys.”
Dawson said he had played on both Walker and Jenkins in recent games between the teams.
He said the key to minimising Walker’s influence was not allowing him to get off to a strong start.
“He’s a very formidable opponent when he’s up and going,” Dawson said.
“I think once he got that first goal against the Suns last weekend, his confidence was up.
“That’s one thing you have to focus on – stamping out his confidence early and making sure he doesn’t get that bounce in his step.”
Dawson played his 50th game for Fremantle in last Sunday’s win over the Western Bulldogs – a milestone he was unaware of until after the game.
“My mum told me,” he said.
“She asked why I didn’t get the banner and I said I don’t think it works like that.
“It’s always good to get any club milestone. You don’t really think about it too much, but when you hear about it, it’s always a nice little milestone to get.
“Once that’s put on the backburner, I can hopefully get to the next big one.”
Dawson has now played 127 AFL games, with 63 of those at St Kilda and 14 at Hawthorn.
