"And I am hard on him. My expectations on Daws are increasing every time we play," Nicks said.
Dawson keeps exceeding his coach's expectations, with his three-goal, 22-disposal effort against Carlton his latest accomplishment.
Dawson started in the midfield and torched the Blues with 11 disposals in the first quarter as Adelaide set course for a 60-point win.
And while the skipper's statistical output then diminished, his influence remained as he finished with three goals.
"He had a huge impact in a couple of areas - on-ball and then went forward, went deep," Nicks said.
"It's a really good sign for us that he has done it off the back of an area that we worked on this week, which was tackle, our intensity, our clean hands.
"He was part of that which started through the middle of the ground early and it set the scene ... a real leader's game."
Dawson's display came after some scrutiny on his low output in last week's loss to Fremantle.
"If you look at last week, our whole team struggled a bit and there's talk around about (Dawson's) execution by foot and these things," Nicks said.
"But this is a guy who sits right up towards the top of the coaches votes and there's a reason for that - he's a very good player.
"There's a lot of stuff that Jordan does even when maybe the perception is he hasn't played well. There is a lot of things he does do well ... off-ball, his work-rate.
"I can't ask for more really. Just to continue to improve."
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