Some people are blessed with sublime skills, an uncompromising attack on the ball or an innate ability to read the game. Others just work harder than everyone else to compensate for what they don’t have. That was Sean Dempster.
Widely regarded as one of the most professional players to ever represent St Kilda Football Club, the ultra-reliable defender was so fastidious with his preparation that he would pack his own lunch, arrive at the club earlier than everyone else to squeeze in extra recovery and always put the work in on the track to an extremely high standard.
In the moments after announcing his retirement to the playing group on Thursday, Dempster told saints.com.au that he knew his own limitations and knew his only way to succeed at the highest level was to ensure he left no stone unturned with his preparation. And given his remarkable consistency, he must have turned over every single stone.
“I was never the most confident with calling myself a footballer or I suppose with my skillset. My nickname is ‘Shinner’ for a reason; my skills aren’t probably the best,” Dempster told saints.com.au on Thursday after announcing his retirement.
“I always knew that I had to have something non-skill related that I could do better than anyone else and I found out along the way that was your professionalism; how you look after yourself; what you do when you’re away from the club; what you eat and what you drink; how much sleep you get.
“Everything that encompasses a footballer that isn’t skills related I thought you know what, I can be the best at that. I might be the worst kick of the football, given my nickname, but that’s something I can own, something that I can be the best at.
“It then gave me a lot of confidence going into games that I’d done all this work, all this preparation, I can now just go out and play I don’t have any demons knocking at the door saying I haven’t done all the work. That’s something that I’ve always prided myself on because it doesn’t take any skill just hard work and how much you want it.”
When asked who has had the biggest impact on his football journey, no one compared to his father, Graham Dempster, and not only from a football perspective but across all facets of his life.
Despite Graham playing for South Melbourne in the 1970s, and playing enough games for Sean to be eligible for the Swans as a father-son selection in 2002, Dempster didn’t pick up the game until later in his teens when his old man’s team was short on numbers one weekend in East Gippsland. And from there, the rest is history.
“Outside of football would easily be my Dad. He’s probably the only reason I ever started playing football and probably the only reason I got drafted; I was drafted to the Swans as a father-son recruit so that got me my foot in the door,” Dempster said.
“But even before that I was playing soccer as a kid, and it was until one day when there weren’t enough people to field a side anymore in my local town of Mallacoota and my Dad was still playing at 45 so I just jumped in the car with him and drove down to Orbost.
“So if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have even picked up a football. He’s been fantastic and he’s just been a person to bounce off over the years.
“You go through a lot of frustration and down periods, it’s not all highs and happy smiles. I’ll be forever grateful for the support that he’s given me.”
