The half-back flanker then moved to St Kilda—where he played 51 games, including one final—and scored 32 goals between 1986 and 1991, but Nixon was never really able to establish himself with the club.
A contractual dispute with the Saints in March 1992 saw him move to the Hawthorn Football Club, where he played eight games, including one final for six goals, before his retirement in 1993.
[citation needed] Nixon was a pioneer of group marketing of prominent athletes in Australia with his Club 10 team of AFL players, which included Gary Ablett Sr., Wayne Carey, Jason Dunstall, Tony Lockett and Garry Lyon.
[2] He is widely acknowledged as a major leader in the innovative marketing of athletes and has been rated by The Age newspaper as the fourth-most-influential person of the past decade in the AFL.
"[4] Flying Start's players included Matthew Richardson, Ben Cousins, Nick Riewoldt and Tom Hawkins.
He has since entered the education business with Flying Start providing online courses, including "How to be a Sports Agent".
[7][8] Nixon was deeply affected by the death of his longtime friend Clinton Grybas in January 2008, and subsequently lapsed into drug and alcohol addiction.
The girl had previously been embroiled in a series of controversies involving players from the St Kilda Football Club, including one of Nixon's major clients, Nick Riewoldt.
[13] He described an incident in which he pondered suicide while in England, but was talked out of it by former St. Kilda President Rod Butterss, who encouraged him to return to Australia.