TITANS STAR THE NO. 1 TARGET FOR NEW BRISBANE TEAM:
TWO of Tugun’s prized recruits will be unavailable for the Seahawks’ season opener against Burleigh but they have a good reason.
One is getting married, while the other is part of the wedding party.
When James Ryan and his partner chose May 8 as their day to say “I do”, they had no idea of the ripple effect it would have on a Gold Coast rugby league club.
“To be honest, I didn’t think I would be making a return to footy when we planned the wedding,” James said.
“We’re getting married a year to the day (I proposed) actually. It sounds a bit corny,
but we didn’t plan it that way. When we got to the wedding venue they had two available dates. We chose May 8, not realising.”
When James, 27, walks down the aisle on Saturday, his brother Beau, 24, will understandably be in attendance.
That leaves two big holes to fill in coach Clint Barends’ forward pack for the clash with premiership fancies Burleigh.
Front-rower James and back-rower Beau had never stepped on to the same rugby league field together until they arrived at Tugun.
It was that alone which drove James to return to rugby league – a chance to spill blood, sweat and tears
on in the same colours as his brother.
“I moved away from home when I was 17 to go to the military. I spent seven years there and when I came back, I committed to playing footy with him,” James said.
“Then I took at job in the mines and it just never happened. So this year, I said no matter where I was, I was playing with him.”
The two Tweed Heads locals previously planned to play for Cudgen, until a call from Barends that shifted the landscape.
“I knew Clint from doing a pre-season at Tweed Seagulls,” James said.
“He rang me up. We had a long chat at my house about going to Tugun. I was already committed to Cudgen, to play with Beau, but I was also interested in playing under Clint.
“The terms were if I play footy, it’s with him. He said nothing was guaranteed and we had to earn our spots. It’s all worked out in the end.”
So much so, that James already knows he will play out the remainder of his rugby league days at the Seahawks.
“It’s honestly the best club I’ve personally played at,” he said.
“I’m ex-military, so I’ve been posted all around the country and played rugby league all over. (Tugun) is not like any other club I’ve been part of.
“The group there, they’re all mates and they just welcomed me straight away.
“When I got there I realised I already knew 50 per cent of them. There’s such a great culture there.
“I won’t leave. My brother said the same thing.”
The brothers finally played alongside each other for the first time during Tugun’s preseason matches. But it will be a special day when the pair run out to play for competition points.
“The few trials we’ve played together, having him as my second-rower, it’s been great just looking up and seeing him there,” James said.
James returns for Round 3, after his honeymoon.