Sevens star Henry Paterson is embracing his Commonwealth Games opportunity, knowing how quickly it can be taken away.
Paterson burst his way into the Tokyo Olympics squad after impressing at training and at Oceania Sevens, despite yet to have debuted on the World Series.
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Unfortunately for the 25-year-old, injury forced his withdrawal from the squad at the last minute, left pondering what would be his next step.
With his future in doubt, the Sevens program kept faith with the Easts product, named as one of eight full-time members of the program.
After debuting in Dubai, Paterson established himself as a regular starter before producing a match-winning performance against New Zealand to claim the London title.
“It was heartbreaking,” he told Rugby.com.au.
“It was really tough at the start. A life dream taken away and the uncertain with my future plating footy.
“Luckily, RA reached out and showed some faith in us for the next season and I was able to focus on recovery and playing some footy.
“That’s snowballed into playing some good footy this year and a successful tour over in London and hopefully some success in Comm Games.
"It’s unreal (to be now named in the squad). It’s been a great year and some Comm games success will cap it off."
After the disappointments of last year, you'd understand if Paterson took every precaution to ensure he's fit and ready to go in Birmingham.
However, this refuses to play on his mind, knowing they need to push themselves to the limit if they wish to return with a medal.
“I don’t think you can (be over-cautious),” he believes.
“There’s urges to but I think Jonny’s (Manenti) really focused on everyone training really hard. Getting to the Commonwealth Games isn’t good enough, we want to win.
“In order to do that, we need a really strong training block and from there the performance will come.”
Paterson is one of 12 debutants of the Commonwealth Games and one of six new faces from the Olympics, reflecting on what it meant to represent his country.
“It’s really special,” Patterson explained.
“You start reflecting on your ‘why’ and why you do it, to be able to represent my country and do my family and my partner proud, they’re the people I think about and got me to this point.
"To see them so happy with my success, it’s what it is all about.”
