Atkin’s putting in body of work
THIS time three years ago, Chris Atkin was preparing for another season in the Betfred Championship with Swinton, where he would combine starring in the second tier with a day job as a teacher.
But midway through that season, the versatile back made the switch to Hull KR, bringing in a fee that went a long way to saving the financially-threatened Lions.
Now he’s back in the region after signing with Salford and has almost completed the notorious pre-season schedule designed by the club’s head of strength and conditioning Greg Brown.
“It was a big shock to the system initially,” admitted the 26-year-old. “My body probably let me down a little bit because I wasn’t recovering, I wasn’t used to that type of training, getting that day in and day out.
“They [coaching staff ] were patient with me, they gave me that little bit of time to catch up and then after a couple of weeks – it was still hard, don’t get me wrong – but my body was letting me push through.
“It definitely played a big part of why Salford were successful last season, the conditioning side of things.
“The lads talk about how well they felt at the back end of last season, when teams are sometimes struggling with injuries, because of the work they’d put in in pre-season and the early parts of the season.”
Atkin regularly started at fullback for Swinton and proved himself comfortable as a Super League hooker and halfback while at KR. That versatility can often prove a curse, preventing a player nailing down a regular spot in the line-up, but Atkin sees it as a positive.
“I speak to the coaches about it, but I like to think I understand the game from a lot of different positions,” he explained. “If you’re a halfback and you understand how nines play, it helps you see the plays and when they’re going to run.
“Although you could say it hinders me not being a halfback week in and week out, it gets you in games that you might not be in otherwise.
“The amount of times I was on the bench last season as a nine or covering different positions, it helped me get as many games in as possible.” Atkin will hope to feature against Warrington tomorrow evening in Salford’s final friendly, having been involved in both the club’s previous warm-ups against familiar faces against Swinton and Leigh, coached by former Lions boss John Duffy.
“I played in the fixture a few years ago when I was at Swinton,” said Atkin. “It was exciting then to play against a Super League team and now the roles are reversed now I’m lucky enough to be in this Salford squad.
“And to play against Duffs was great, he played a massive part in me getting to Super League. He believed in me and put a lot of effort and one-on-one coaching into helping me keep improving.”