Patience paying off
SEAN Atkinson has waited a long time to play in his first seniors finals match with the Surfers Paradise Demons.
The dependable, highly durable 26-year-old made his first-grade debut for the Demons in 2007 when Paul Hams was coaching the club.
Atkinson has since played 114 games in the seniors and tomorrow will make his finals debut for the red and the blue in the QAFL elimination final against Mt Gravatt at Dittmer Park in Brisbane.
“I missed the finals that year because of injuries and the next few years, when the club made finals again, I was in the reserves,” Atkinson said.
“Then I went over to work in Western Australia in 2012 and 2013 so I missed any finals then. Now I’m finally going to get into one and I am pumped for it.”
Previously a specialist de- fender, Atkinson had bloomed into a versatile utility, this season filling a number of positions from half-back, wing and sometimes up forward.
“We got touched up big time by them (Mt Gravatt) earlier in the season up there but that was probably the worst we played all season and we had some key personnel out that day,” Atkinson said.
“We have some of them back for this one and we did beat them (the Vultures) by a goal a fortnight ago down here.
“I can’t wait for this weekend, it’s a massive, massive day for the club and I hope we can get up for the young boys coming through.
“They’re all pumped up like me for the weekend.”
The Atkinson name is prominent at Surfers, where Sean’s father Terry played more than 200 games .
The Demons have lost forward John Macansh (ankle) and perhaps Darren Van de Werken (back and hamstring issues) for the trip up the M1.