NRRRL: Damian Sironen and Jess Perry hoping to retire on a high with Ballina

They’ve been best mates forever, and on Sunday the Ballina Seagulls are hoping to give two retiring club legends the perfect send-off in the NRRRL grand final.

Damian Sironen and Jess Perry have been mates for longer than they can remember.

Given that their respective parents were good friends, the two boys were pushed together from an early age, squeezed into play dates and paired alongside each other whenever their families caught up.

“It’s one of those forced friendships that turned out to be a real one,” laughs Sironen, who had Perry beside him as the best man at his wedding.

So it probably seems fitting that the two mates will run out together for their last game of footy on Sunday when Ballina takes on Cudgen in the NRRRL grand final at Kingsford Smith Park, with the pair set to hang up the boots after full-time.

The finale seems like a script written for a Hollywood film, with Sironen only returning to his hometown club for a swansong this season after a successful career that took him as far and wide as the Melbourne Storm, the Q Cup and most recently to Wollongong, where he played for the Thirroul Butchers.

Perry and Sironen will play their last games for the Ballina Seagulls in the NRRRL grand final on Sunday. Photo: Emma Stockham

“I came back for a bit of a last hurrah with Jess,” said Sironen. “He’s my best mate and he said that he’s retiring. I missed out on a grand final last year (with Thirroul), so if I’d have gotten that I probably would have retired but I missed out so I thought I’d give it one more crack,” he laughed.

And while the pair have been lifelong friends, this year has remarkably been the first time that they’ve strapped on the boots together.

“We’ve been really good friends since birth, our parents are very close, but we never actually got to play football together until this year unfortunately,” said Sironen.

“It’s just the way it worked out. Jess is a year younger and every time he played up a grade in the juniors I was usually away playing rep footy so we never got a game together. And that’s why this year has been so special to pull on a jersey with my best mate.”

The Seagulls have been excellent in 2023 to claim the minor premiership. Photo: Emma Stockham

The decision certainly seems to have been justified, with Ballina putting together an excellent season to lose just one game all year, claim the minor premiership and book a home grand final.

“It’s been great. We’ve got a really good mix of young guys and older heads that have been around the traps and I think that combination of old and young is working really well for us,” said Sironen, who last donned the black and blue back in 2010.

“There are guys like Rowan Mansfield and Caleb Kinna who were still babies when I was here last and now they’re playing with me, so it’s pretty nostalgic coming back.”

That’s not the only bit of nostalgia for the big front rower, who has once again linked up with a host of former junior teammates after a decade away from Ballina.

“There are also others I grew up with like the Colman boys, Dan Gibson, Ali Grant, who was unlucky with injury this year, so it’s been good to reconnect after just coming back to the area myself.”

Sironen has reconnected with a host of former teammates since returning to the Seagulls. Picture: Emma Stockham

But that’s not where the reunions end. Greg Barnes, Ballina’s premiership-winning coach from 2013 and 2014, returned to the club this year as first grade coach, with Perry, Anthony Colman and Dan Gibson among the class of 2013 still running around in the top grade.

Digging a little further into the part, Barnes was also at the helm of a team featuring the likes of current players Sironen, Cameron Copeland and Fred Pitt that won an under-18s competition for the Seagulls.

“There are a few of the boys that I coached 10 or even 15 years ago in the under-18s, so there is that link there. The team’s made up of 95 per cent local juniors, which is fantastic,” said Barnes, who notes that he has watched many of the current players go from energetic teenagers to club veterans.

“With Damian, Cam Copeland and Freddy, they were all 16-year-olds and now they’re in their 30s.

“It’s the same as the boys from 2013, they were all very young at the time in their early 20s and now they’re in their early 30s.

“It’s good to see that they’ve a) come back to the club after they’ve gone away and played at a higher level, or b) just been at the club that whole time. It will very pleasing to see those guys hopefully get the premiership they deserve.”

Perry is a club legend for Ballina. Photo: Emma Stockham

And ahead of the big home grand final, Barnes couldn’t speak more highly of his two retiring players.

“Jess has won multiple premierships with the club, has been club captain for the past 10 years – he’s the heart and soul of the place. It’ll be his last time wearing the black and blue, so everyone wants to see him go out a winner,” he said.

“And Damian has been massive for us this year. He came back for one last year and he’s been enormous, he’s been huge.

“Every week he’s got the job done playing up front. He plays big minutes, he’s a real leader. He doesn’t say much but it’s more, ‘Follow me and jump on the back of what I’m doing.’

“It’s those boys’ last games and they’re not going to leave anything out there.”

As for Sironen himself, on top of simply wanting to go out on a high with his mate, he also has a sense of unfinished business given the way his first stint with the club finished back in 2010.

“My last memory was actually losing a grand final for Ballina. I was 17 playing first grade down in Grafton and we were very unlucky that day to get beat (14-6) by a very good Grafton side.

“That’s one lasting memory that sort of sticks out. That, and then winning an 18s grand final with Greg as my coach the year previous. But I’d like to create another pretty good memory on the weekend if we could go out with a good win.”

Ballina take on Cudgen in the NRRRL grand final at Kingsford Smith Park, Ballina, on Sunday at 2:45pm.