After managing only one look off the bench in an abortive maiden season with Melbourne, Daniel Atkinson feared his NRL dream is likely to be over as quickly because it had begun.
The Queensland-born playmaker was launched by the Storm on the finish of 2021 and returned to his house state, the place he busied himself in a commerce.
Atkinson was mixing carpentry with taking part in for the Sunshine Coast Falcons when he took a name from Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon and the membership’s common supervisor of soccer Darren Mooney.
“I have not seemed again,” he mentioned.
The 23-year-old admits there have been “undoubtedly” occasions he thought a future as knowledgeable rugby league participant had handed him by.
“Going to work at 6.30 after which going to coach, I am like, ‘Geez it is getting powerful’,” he mentioned.
“However boys do it their entire life.”
Regardless of taking part in in all three of Italy’s group video games on the 2022 Rugby League World Cup, Atkinson — who qualifies for the European nation via his mom — needed to wait till Sunday’s crushing victory over Canberra for his first NRL begin.
He was referred to as into the Sharks squad at late discover to fill the unfamiliar five-eighth position vacated by Braydon Trindall, who was sidelined after his midweek drink-driving prices.
Whereas Atkinson failed to hassle the scorers, the debutant proved a greater than succesful sidekick for his red-hot halves companion Nicho Hynes.
The pair dovetailed properly because the ladder-leading Sharks cruised to a 40-0 victory.
Hynes was scintillating — scoring two tries, aiding three extra and breaking 5 tackles — whereas Atkinson was organised, error-free.
“He saved it easy. That was the position we had for him,” coach Fitzgibbon mentioned after the match.
“He received his kicking sport when wanted. He managed to search out some runs out of nowhere, he virtually poked his nostril via the road a few occasions.
“However to stroll right into a crew within the house of per week and discover some reference to Nicho, I assumed that was fairly spectacular.”
Atkinson and Hynes overlapped whereas on the Storm throughout 2021.
“After I first got here to the Sharks, he was the primary bloke I knew so we have got a very good connection,” Atkinson mentioned.
With the stood-down Trindall probably set for a prolonged stint on the sidelines, Fitzgibbon mentioned Atkinson had accomplished sufficient to make the position his personal.
The rookie halfback is raring to profit from his alternative, at the same time as he continues to work on his carpentry expertise exterior the sport.
“I am attempting to get TAFE began, simply doing a little bit of concept right here and there once I’ve received a while off,” he mentioned.
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AAP
