Kyle Dempsey is hoping to stake his claim as Bolton Wanderers' number 10 moving forwards as the January transfer window signing has lifted the lid on his rugby league past and how came through the ranks at Wigan Warriors.
The 26-year-old was the final acquisition in the dying moments of the January transfer window from Gillingham to become Bolton's seventh signing of the period as part of a squad tranformation.
Dempsey has since gone on to make seven appearances for Wanderers, which has coincided with the club's rise up the League One table which has got them in the conversations for the play-offs.
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The midfielder has started four games for Ian Evatt's side so far since moving at the end of January as part of the central midield trio employed by Wanderers.
He has sometimes been part of two in front of the defence, while at other times he has lined up in the number 10 role.
Dempsey is relishing the chance of having more time in the number 10 role and wants to add more goals to his game, something he is excited at the prospect of in the squad which has been assembled.
He said: "I’ve always played sort of the eight up to the 10. I like to receive the ball around the halfway line and drive with the ball and bring everyone else into play.
"To be honest I enjoy the number 10, especially in the way this team plays. I’m going to be receiving the ball a lot more and getting in dangerous positions. That’s where I like to execute, from the edge of the box, with the goals and assists I had last year.
"’m a ball carrying midfielder – I like to get the ball between the halfway line and drive past the midfielders I’m against. That’s why the manager wanted to bring me in.
"The conversations I’ve had with him, he wants me to bring that to the team - my energy, my will to fly into the challenges and just to bring the team further up the field.
"I think that’s sort of my main attribute and last year I showed the early signs of my career that I am a goalscoring midfielder. I want to add a lot more goals to my game and especially until the end of the season.
"It’s a great set of lads. I’ve fitted in really well - the lads have been really welcoming. I’m getting on with a lot of them and you can see the mentality of this group is they want to win as many games as possible and try and get up the table into the play-offs.
"That obviously fits me down to a tee because anything I do, I want to be the best at. Even if it’s the most stupid thing, I want to come first.
"That’s sort of what I bring to this group, and communication as well – I’ll bring a lot of that to the team. I’m just going to try and help as much as I can until the end of the season to help us get as high up as we can."
Though Whitehaven-born Dempsey is a footballer, he is the son of former professional rugby league player Michael Dempsey and actually has a background in the sport, having grown up in an area more famed for producing players better at kicking the oval ball than the round one.
He was a scholar at Wigan Warriors until the age of 16 and was so well thought-of that he was also involved with the England Under 16s but in 2012 decided to sign on with Carlisle United despite being offered extended terms by Wigan, having also turned out for Ellenborough Rangers and Workington Town in the sport.
And the former Huddersfield Town man has explained aving to make a choice between rugby league and football, but he admits he still keeping an eye on the former sport due to having friends who still play for Wigan to this day.
He explained: "It was a decision I had to make when I was 16. Obviously, my dad was a professional rugby player as well and he had watched me and taken me everywhere since I was eight.
"I went to Wigan Warriors when I was under-14s and represented my country as well. It was one of them where I got to 16 and knew I had to make a decision.
"My dad just said, ‘you’re sort of at the top in rugby without making it professional, why don’t you see how far you can get in football?’ I’ve sort of lived by that and I want to get as high up as possible. Hopefully it’s with this club.
"I played stand off so I liked to receive the ball a lot – pretty much similar to football. You get those games where it’s going to be tough and it’s going to be a battle, but nothing really compares to rugby so I’m always up for that.
"It’s completely different to football in the way in which they train. The intensity is there in football but it’s the physical side as well – finishing training sessions and you’re sore.
"You don’t really get that in football, obviously you’re physically tired. But yeah, it was a choice I had to make and I think I made the right decision for my body and my looks as well!
"A couple of the boys I played with in the under-15s and under-16s, they still play professional rugby now. I still keep in touch with them and I like to see how they’re doing, and a couple are doing really well so it’s nice to see.
"A couple of them play for Wigan and obviously the ones I was at Wigan with, they went to other teams. They’re doing really well."
Dempsey has spent much of his career in League One and believes the standard of the division has risen recently, with clubs of increased stature and bigger finances populating the third tier of English football.
And he believes sides which do go up to the Championship eventually at the conclusion of this campaign will not struggle at that level.
He said: "I think it’s been a lot more challenging. I think there are a lot of better squads in there. You look at some of the money that was spent - the salaries in some of the clubs - it is a really competitive league.
"Normally you see teams who go up to the Championship and probably struggle but some of the squads – I don’t think they’ll struggle.
"It’s been a lot more challenging but they’re the games you want to play in, they’re the players you want to play against and you want to do well against those teams."
