"People have their opinions, but we just try to get on with life," Dixon said as he finds himself back on the Canes' bench behind All Black rake Dane Coles before tonight's 7.35 Super Rugby kick-off against the defending champions, the Chiefs, in Hamilton.
"You've got to be living on the edge. You just have to get it right," he said, explaining the hooker's role in the scrum was equally specific to the team's fortunes.
Ironically, the Napier Technical Rugby Old Boys player is coming off a shoulder injury he picked up against the Chiefs in round 15 on May 24 at the Cake Tin.
Coles has shrugged off a calf injury while the other hooking deputy, Motu Matu'u, had similar concerns to Dixon's.
Tonight's game is a season-defining one for the Mark Hammett-coached, Wellington-based franchise.
They must win to keep their playoffs hopes alive in fifth place, considering they have a bye in the final round of the competition.
"Our destiny is in our hands if we play our game and settle in as as good as we can then anything can happen," said Dixon, soon after arriving in Hamilton last night.
He is mindful the 45-8 flogging they dished out to the Chiefs in Wellington will be sufficient motivation for the desperate home side at Waikato Stadium tonight.
"There'll be a lot fireworks and it'll be an arm-wrestle.
"It'll be a real grudge match so it'll be awesome to play the Chiefs."
The Crusaders are leading the New Zealand franchises' charge in the Super Rugby campaign on 42 points.
The Waratahs are setting the pace on 48 points and the Sharks are three points adrift.
The Highlanders, who play the Tahs in the penultimate round at Alliannz Stadium, Sydney, on Sunday, are on equal points with the Crusaders but have an inferior points differential.
The Jeremy Thrush-captained Hurricanes are perched in fifth place on 41 points, one above the Brumbies.
The Force, Blues and Chiefs all have 36 points in that order on the table.
Said Dixon: "If we don't win, we won't make the top six.
"We're coming out to try to win. If it's ugly or whatever, we have to make the playoffs as much as the Chiefs."
The Hawke's Bay Magpie said it didn't help that the Canes lost their opening four matches.
"At the start of the year everyone was coming at us, the players, and the coach on how bad we were."
The rigorous trip to South Africa, he felt, would have tested any franchise from New Zealand or Australia.
The yellow shirts didn't fret, though. They conducted soul-searching sessions to come up with with a blueprint on how to slowly work their way back into contention.
Are the Hurricanes playing for Hammett, who will step down at the end of the season?
"Hammer would not put himself on a pedestal."
Dixon lauded the Kiwi conference.
"It's great when all five teams are going for each other ."
It took only one mistake for a team to lose a game.
Dixon said the hooking berths in the All Blacks, with the Rugby World Cup looming next year, offered players the opportunity to make their mark.
He and Matu'u brought different brands of play to the Canes' matrix and weren't second or third-stringers.
"Mots is strong defensively and one of the biggest hitters and a game changer.
"The way Hurricanes play suits my style so ball-carrying is my strength."
