LIKE all overnight rises, Sean Dempster’s ascent has actually been a long time coming.

Throughout much of his career, Dempster had been a solid contributor without being 100 per cent entrenched in the senior teams of the Sydney Swans and then St Kilda.

For the first eight seasons of his AFL career, Dempster admits he never felt like an established senior player despite taking part in five Grand Finals in his first 98 games.

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Then almost out of the blue, Dempster started to win all the plaudits that are only afforded to the very best – finishing in the top three of the St Kilda best and fairest for the past two seasons and earning a spot in the 2012 All-Australian team.

That wasn’t always the case for the 29-year-old.

“I was on the fringe and being in and out of the team for quite a long period of my career meant I never really felt like I belonged,” Dempster told saints.com.au.

“I’ve had little steps along the way where I’ve been able to find improvement and that has been good. My whole reason for playing footy has been to be able to contribute to something and that is what gets me up every day.”

Dempster’s time as a perceived fringe player was due in no part to a lack of effort. Over his time at St Kilda, he has earned a reputation for being one of the hardest workers on the track and in the gym as well as having a diligent approach to nutrition.

But the fact that his professional attitude took a while to translate to on-field performances was at times hard for Dempster to take.

“That’s what I really struggled with. At one stage I almost wanted to, not quit football but I was just struggling with it because I have always been the kind of guy who has given everything I’ve got out on the track, in the gym, with my nutrition – all the professional stuff that comes along with being a footballer but it was never really rolling over into my football and I was really struggling with that part of it,” he said.

“I was thinking “I’m working so hard and it is not really paying off for me.” I did struggle with that for a while and having worked with the psych it was all about how I wasn’t really giving myself a chance to excel and succeed because I was so worried when it came to game day that I was going to stuff up and not contribute or that it might be my fault that we lose.

“I never really took the chance to succeed or become a good player because I was so worried. I think when I got over that, all the professional stuff and hard work I had put in over the years started to kick in then because I could do as much as I wanted on the training track but when it came to game day I was so worried that I didn’t give myself the opportunity.”

Dempster’s improvement over the past few seasons has seen him join the St Kilda leadership group this year along with David Armitage and Jarryn Geary.

He says he has his own style of leadership and is the first to admit he is not the most vocal player around the club.

“Far from it. I’m pretty quiet and a bit of an introvert. I found it an honour to be asked to be part of the group, you’re voted in by your peers. It was something that I had to take on board and I have had to do more work than people like Nick Riewoldt or Nick Dal Santo – leadership probably comes a little more naturally to them,” he said.

“Because I’m that quiet sort of guy I’ve had to find a way for the leadership group to work around me rather than me work for the leadership group. My leadership style is a lot different to the other guys, I’m not the kind of guy who is going to get up and make a big speech to inspire the whole group but hopefully by my actions and speaking to the younger players probably a bit more one on one which is more my style and I am a bit more comfortable with. Hopefully I’m adding to the leadership group with my little part.”