‘My hero’: tears for premiership footballer Paul ‘Slammer’ Sjostrom

It came from when Paul Sjostrom was learning to kick and had a tendency to slam the ball on to his boot.

The nickname stuck and so did the kicking style. It wasn’t exactly taken from the textbook but it invariably delivered the football to its target, often through the goals.

Local football in Melbourne’s south-east has been numbed by Sjostrom’s death at the age of 45.

He died at Monash Medical Centre on Sunday, seven weeks after he started to feel pain in his stomach and four weeks after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Sjostrom was part of the Noble Park team that kicked the club off in the Eastern league in 2000. One of his best performances that season came against Mitcham, when he booted six goals (years later he liked to remind mates of his day out).

In 2004 he crossed to Clayton in the Southern league, two years later figuring in the premiership side coached by George Jones.

His goalkicking exploits for the Clays had him elevated to the interleague squad and brought him regular mentions in Daryl Pitman’s match reports in local newspapers.

Former Clayton player and coach Richard Szersyn has vivid memories of Sjostrom kicking 10 goals in a match against Mordialloc. His name became a staple of the black-and-whites. They still resonate with Southern league stalwarts: Szersyn, Waata Wells, Matty Gallagher, Ryan Goodes, Davor “Moose’’ Rajic and Corey Pearce.

Sjostrom switched to Springvale Districts in 2009, where his great mate and Noble Park teammate Steve Hughes was senior coach.

An emotional Hughes said yesterday that he and Sjostrom met at Wallarano Primary School and they went through at Chandler High together.

“We moved to Keysborough when I was eight, and I was put into the same class as ‘Slammer’ and he became my best mate,’’ he said.

“We were best mates for a long time. He’s got the biggest heart of anyone I know. He lights up the room and nobody tells jokes like him, and that didn’t change in the last month when he was in agonising pain. He still made everybody in the hospital room laugh with his one-liners. They were there until his last days.’’

He added: “He’s my hero. He was in agony for a month but he didn’t complain. The bravest I’ve ever seen … he just took it on. Never seen anything like it. So incredibly brave.’’

Hughes, now Noble Park’s senior coach, described Sjostrom as a “very good footballer’’, an “explosive forward with great hands’’.

“He was a really dynamic player. His marking was his feature. He was a really good overhead mark. He was as unique a footballer as he was a person, because of the nickname he was given for slamming the ball on his foot.’’

Szersyn said Sjostrom was a popular player and clubman at Clayton.

“He was full of life,’’ he said. “You definitely knew when he was around. He was very loyal to his mates as well. It makes it all the more special to have played in that flag with him.’’

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Sjostrom also played cricket at Parkfield, bowling fast with a slinging action. He enjoyed taking wickets, but not as much as kicking goals, and so was happy to find his fun in the lower grades, one season winning a premiership with the Bandits.

Paul Sjostrom’s son, Matthew, parents Marj and Bruce, brother Neil and sister Dianne survive him.

Funeral arrangements are being made.