27/07/2026
Sorrento Sharks president swaps braised beef for broken ribs in reserves call-up.
Anthony Ring didn't even get to finish his steak.
The Sorrento Football Netball Club president was midway through Hotel Sorrento's braised beef and mash, and mid-sentence delivering his President's Address, when a tap on the shoulder changed his Saturday.
Two players down in the reserves, no bench, and the club a body short.
"I got a tap on the shoulder and [they] said, 'Look, there's two legs off for the rest of the game, no bench, can you play?'" Ring said.
He didn't hesitate. Gear on, boots laced, back on the paddock for the second half. That was last week against Pines.
A week later against Mount Eliza brought another call-up with a severe shortage again. By half-time, Ring had cracked three ribs and picked up a nasty case of hamstring bursitis after colliding with a wall of Mount Eliza opposition at what was, in his words, a “cannonball.”
On Monday morning, he was back behind his desk, unable to sit properly on his right side, sore, stiff, and smiling.
"Monday I'm in the office, I can't sit on my right butt cheek because I've got bursitis where my hamstring meets my sitting bone, and I can't lie on my right side in bed because I've got three cracked ribs," Ring said. "So I'm going well."
It's not the first time the 40-year-old veteran has come out of retirement for the Sharks. Ring first pulled on the boots at Sorrento in the under-14s in 2000 after moving down from Marysville, and across junior and senior football, he has racked up more than 400 games.
He "retired" more than once after knee blowouts in 2010 and 2013, only to be talked back into the guernsey whenever the reserves have come up short—which, by his own admission, is often.
"I've made multiple comebacks and ended up playing multiple seasons because the club's always been short in the reserves," he said.
Saturday's cameo carried extra significance. Ring lined up alongside fellow committeeman Justin Mitchell, president of the club's junior section, whose son, Cooper, backed up from an under-19s game to also fill a reserves gap.
For Ring, it echoed his own teenage years playing reserves footy alongside his father.
"Justin got to play with his son. I played with my dad when I was a teenager. I played up in the reserves like Cooper did on the weekend and played with my dad," he said. "Those sorts of things, you can't buy those sorts of experiences."
It's that thread, juniors and seniors pulling in the same direction that Ring says is central to where the club is heading.
"The senior club and the junior club are working, not just on-field but off-field together, to create a great junior program going forward for years to come, giving our kids the best opportunity in football and life," Ring said. "We're all working together as one big club."
The seniors made it a day to remember, running out winners on the back of a stack of homegrown Sorrento talent, while the A-grade netballers also picked up the four points.
The reserves went down by six goals, but Ring wasn't complaining.
"It hurts, but I smile, knowing that people like myself and Justin, and these players — his son playing two games — things go a long way towards our senior teams being successful," he said.
Sorrento has now won back-to-back games heading into the business end of the season and is chasing a third straight victory this weekend against opposition they've already beaten once this year.
Ring says the form is building nicely into 2027, with a strong crop of young talent coming through the ranks.
The club is on the hunt for reinforcements ahead of the run home, with Ring putting out an open call to any former players who might have a game or two left in them.
"[There are] some people walking around town in their mid-30s who just stopped footy because they were too busy, but might be able to fill in once or twice," he said.
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