Diligent Earnest wants to keep making history

Featured image: @simons_sportpics

Having already been part of history representing Guam, Earnest Ross wants to do more of it and has his sights set on an NBL1 North championship with Sunshine Coast Phoenix as he continues to ply his trade around the world.

It has been quite the journey for Ross throughout his career having been born to parents in the military in Guam and now proudly representing his nation on the global stage in and amongst his professional career.

Ross first landed in Australia to play in the NBL at the Perth Wildcats and now since has played in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland all in between playing in Europe and Asia as well.

It's quite the journey he has had as a professional while also having his own young family having met his wife in Melbourne but the set up he has right now playing in Japan and then returning to the Sunshine Coast to play NBL1 North has never had him happier.

>> NORTH WRAP | MEN'S ROUND 14

>> AMARCO HIGHLIGHTS NBL1 PATHWAY TO NBL

>> FIRST NATIONS DESIGN SPARKS DARRYL JR'S NBL1 RETURN

Ross has returned to the Phoenix for a second season in 2026 on the back of another season in Japan where he played with Shanan United and now he wants to bring a championship to the Sunshine Coast.

Earlier this month Ross was able to return to Perth to play for Guam in their first ever FIBA World Cup Qualifier and now making more history is what he wants to do.

Having made a home for himself and his family on the Sunshine Coast, he would love nothing more than to bring them a championship.

"Obviously it's a lot of hype and we enjoy that, and embrace those moments and it has a lot of history and a lot of things that they have accomplished, and have not accomplished," Ross said.

"I think right now in this era we're doing a lot of things that they haven’t done before and that's exciting.

"We just want to continue to make history and for me with where I'm at personally, I just want to be part of history whether it's with my national team and the first time playing in FIBA World Cup Qualifiers, making playoffs with the Sunshine Coast or winning it all.

"Our goals are big and we have our goals set, but each and every moment we just embrace this and that's the tremendous thing about our team and our community.

"They're behind us each and every step from Car Coop with Vic and those guys that are the main sponsors too, and then all of our supporters. So we want to do it for them."

Feeling heading into finals

After three tough seasons in the NBL1 North prior to Ross' arrival in 2025 where the Phoenix had a combined 18-37 record, he was instrumental in them finishing third last year before a semi-final loss to the Brisbane Capitals.

They have now qualified for finals once again in third position in 2026 with a 12-4 record and having won five of their last six matches including putting up over 100 points in four of those wins.

It's far from a one man show with Ross, though, with Luke Anderson, Erik Kafritsas, DeShawn Ross-Paiwan, Darnell and Jamaal Robateau, Nelson Kahler, Liam Switzer and Ben Perry all playing key roles in getting them to back-to-back playoff appearances.

Ross couldn’t be happier about the team the Phoenix are going into the finals with starting with Saturday night's qualifying final against the Ipswich Force.

"I'm feeling amazing to be honest and obviously in our eyes as a team we look at things more differently as more so having unfinished business," Ross said.

"Going into last season I think there wasn’t that much expectation as far as people may not know what to expect, but then once we started rolling the expectations started to become higher.

"We became one of those teams that were pretty good so I think now going into this season that we've got more pieces, we've added guys and obviously Luke Anderson has been huge for us.

"We've got Ben Perry who is a guy just had eight assists in one quarter last game and as a team collectively we are there. We're just trying to continue to elevate not just the team but the community as well because this should be a Sunshine Coast standard.

"That's what we're trying to do, we're brothers at the end of the day so we know what we can do and we don’t care who gets to shine because all of us are going to get it as long as we win."

Taking on Ipswich and Lamar

When Sunshine Coast takes on Ipswich at Maroochydore Stadium with their seasons on the line, Ross will find himself facing off with someone on the Force team he has plenty in common with.

Like Ross, Lamar Patterson now calls the south of Queensland home, he has his own young family now in Australia and he even has quite the similar game to Ross so there is no doubt the pair will be matched up plenty in the qualifying final.

Ross might not be playing with his own child on the same NBL1 team as Patterson is with Zaiden, but he is more than happy to pump up any individual match up for the good of the overall spectacle.

"To be honest with you, man, they're a great team and Ipswich is a team that we're going to prepare for them to be at their best," Ross said.

"As far as a one-on-one match up, Lamar's a great player and I don’t really know him personally, but as far as our journeys and getting over to Australia goes, it is very similar.

"As far as that goes, I think that we're just two people that have basketball in common and continue to elevate the conference and if that's what the hype is around, we know he's gonna come ready to play and we already know I'm going to come ready to play.

"At the end of the day, that's just an entertaining match up and I'm just happy to be in a match where people are interested in us as players to play against each other."

Making history with Guam

There's plenty going on with Ross on a basketball front with his long seasons in Japan, coming back to the NBL1 North and playing with Guam, and that's not even taking into account his family, but making history is something he always takes pride in.

He's also always proud to represent Guam where he was born when his parents were stationed there as part of the military, and it was a double bonus earlier this month to be part of their first ever World Cup Qualifiers.

It gave Ross a chance to return to Perth and to play at RAC Arena once more where he spent a season with the Wildcats calling that his home floor and having the Red Army behind him.

It brought back plenty of memories for him 11 years later and he even top scored for Guam against the Australian Boomers with 22 points as well.

"It was amazing and obviously that wasn’t my first time playing Australia, but being able to go back to RAC and go back to Perth and playing in front of those fans was a great experience," Ross said.

"A lot of those fans know me from the Wildcats days so it was amazing actually and the environment was nothing short of what I have expected from when I played with the Wildcats.

"They always had an incredible fan base and that's something that should be appreciated so going back there was a bit of a chills moment remembering these days 10 years ago.

"The main thing was just to be able to put on a great performance for the fans and I always told my team not to worry about the scoreboard, we're here to represent what's on our chest and that's Guam.

"As long as we all new that we gave our all that's all we could do and I hope that the fans were at least entertained and enjoyed my performance even though we lost and I gave it my all."

Sharing the experience with visiting mum

The other experience that Ross will cherish forever about that experience of not only playing for Guam in the World Cup Qualifier in Perth, but also getting to go to New Zealand to play the Tall Blacks and getting to enjoy some father-son time with his mother who was out to visit.

"My mum is definitely one of my major supporters when it comes to my career and she's the one that got me started, and got me going to where I am now," Ross said.

"Now I have a family and a wife as well and they are always behind me so just to be able to have that mum and son time meant a lot.

"For her to be able to experience these things with me is special and I just finished up my 13th year as a professional in Japan this past season and my mum has not yet been able to see me play overseas.

"So for her to experience the professional things on the national stage with me I think was a wonderful thing for, and for me. It's just something that we're going to cherish forever."

Dealing with playing all year round

One thing that Ross takes great pride in is how professional he is with looking after his body and with his recovery. That's why he continues to be able to play all-year round and have his body not giving way on him.

Since that NBL15 season at the Wildcats, Ross has played NBL1 (or the previous equivalents) in Australia at the Ballarat Miners, Geraldton Buccaneers, Joondalup Wolves, West Adelaide Bearcats and now the Sunshine Coast.

In between, he has had stints in New Zealand along with Denmark, Qatar and now Japan where he has settled over the past seasons.

That's led to him playing plenty of basketball with those seasons in Japan consisting of 44, 47, 48 and 47 matches, but what's allowing to keep on going at the level he is comes down to that diligent approach.

"It's holding up good and for me when it comes to recovery, I'm on it, and I understand my body and what I need to do in order to play at these levels, but mainly to be able to perform at these levels," Ross said.

"That all comes down to being able to take care of the body and recovery is a huge part of my lifestyle.

"In that sense, as long as the body feels good I feel good and then I can continue to play so it's been a blessing to be able to play with these guys the past two seasons and hopefully I can continue to do that into the future as well."

Where home ultimately will be

What Ross didn’t expect when he first came to Australia for that 2014/15 NBL season at the Wildcats was that it would end up being the country that he will always now want to call home.

It's where he met his wife, it's where they want to raise their family and it's always where they want to come back to even when basketball takes Ross to other parts of the world.

Where exactly in Australia the family settles when Ross ends up retiring from playing will be decided based where the best opportunities exist, but Australia is definitely where it'll be somewhere.

"All those places are tremendous places and I was just so blessed and thankful to be a part of all those teams and organisations," Ross said.

"Ultimately in life we just kinda end up going wherever the wind takes us and that's the Sunshine Coast now for me and I enjoy it here so much. For right now, it is my home and I'm happy to call it home and I love the people and the supporters here so this is my home.

"When I do stop playing, the big thing for me is that I want to continue to inspire and I want to motivate, teach and be a part of basketball in some way.

"I want to be in the best situation whether that's in Sunshine Coast, Melbourne, Perth or wherever those opportunities allow me to get involved, but it will be in Australia somewhere for sure."