Dual in the crown retires: Phillips brings down the curtain on epic career – ‘it’s been an amazing ride’
Dual sporting star superstar Erin Phillips has retired, with the former Australian Opals guard bringing the AFLW’s most decorated career to a close.
Phillips will hang up her boots after Port Adelaide’s season-ending home game against Greater Western Sydney on Saturday, ending a career that stretched across eight seasons: six with the Crows followed by two with the Power.
The 38-year-old goalkicking midfielder has three premierships, two AFLW best-and-fairest awards, three All-Australian selections, two AFLPA players’ MVP awards and two club best and fairests to her name.
“The time is right for me to call time on my football career,” Phillips said in a statement on Tuesday.
(Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
“I am so grateful to Port Adelaide and the Adelaide Football Club for giving me the opportunity to play the game I have loved since I was little.
“It’s been an amazing ride and I’m looking forward to the next chapter.
“For me, that will mean giving my body a rest and spending more time with my family.”
Phillips played football since she was 13, determined to follow in the footsteps of her father, the Port Adelaide and Collingwood champion Greg Phillips – but initially unable to because of the lack of a top-tier women’s competition.
The gifted sportswoman instead turned to basketball, where she became a FIBA world champion with the Opals, along with winning Olympic silver and Commonwealth Games gold medals and two WNBA championships.
Phillips signed with Adelaide as a cross-code rookie ahead of the inaugural 2017 season, becoming co-captain with Chelsea Randall.
She took the league by storm, winning the AFLW best and fairest and delivering a best-on-ground performance in the grand final win over Brisbane to lead the Crows to the inaugural premiership
Phillips repeated that feat in 2019 as league best and fairest and premiership co-captain, but tore her anterior cruciate ligament late in her best-on-ground performance in the grand final.
The midfielder/forward also kicked a goal in Adelaide’s season-six grand final win over Melbourne in 2022.
After 50 goals in 46 games with the Crows, Phillips moved to Port Adelaide as their captain when they entered the competition ahead of season seven.
She has played 19 games for the Power, booting two goals.