I reckon Dawson's improved a hell of a lot since 2013. His main "problem" now is simply that he does what he's told, which is to spoil, to force the ball out, or (third choice) to otherwise prevent the opposition from taking possession.
You don't see him take a lot of marks (because that's not what he's told to do), but on those rare occasions when he goes for them, he gets them more than he doesn't. Likewise, kicking from behind the mark, he's far from terrible. He's also regularly one of our top 3 or 4 in the 1-percenter category.
Besides backing himself to take the mark/kick a little bit more, the one thing I'd like him to do is raise his eyes when he receives a handpass in a pressure situation, to see if there's another player clear of the hot zone who might present a better option than an instant return to the player under pressure.