Erin Phillips announces retirement from AFLW after eight seasons of elite football
AFLW star Erin Phillips will play her last game of elite football this weekend, after announcing her retirement following eight seasons in which she achieved distinction as one of the league’s most formidable competitors and decorated athletes.
The competition’s inaugural best-and-fairest winner and premiership co-captain will hang up her boots at the conclusion of this Saturday’s game between Port Adelaide and GWS.
The 38-year-old captained both the Power and the Adelaide Crows and is one of the AFLW’s most successful players, with honours including three All-Australian selections, as well as three premierships and two league best-and-fairest medals.
Phillips played more than 60 games for both Adelaide teams and made the highly publicised move to the Crows’ cross-town rivals when the Power entered the AFLW in 2022, joining the club that her father Greg played for.
In a statement, Phillips said the “time is right” for her to retire, and said she now looked forward to spending more time with her family.
“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,” Phillips said.
The former elite basketballer expressed satisfaction that she was ending her football career with the same club as the one most highly associated with her family.
“I am so grateful to be finishing my playing days at Port Adelaide,” she said.
“To share the last two years of my career with the Alberton crowd has been an incredible experience. I have given everything I had left to this club.
“It has been a true privilege to lead this team and I can’t wait to see what this group will achieve in the coming years.”
In its tribute to Phillips, the Power described her “as one of the best cross-code athletes in Australian sport”, and noted her highly successful basketball career across Australia, Europe and the United States, in which silverware included two WNBA championships and one WNBL championship.
