Erin Phillips | |
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![]() Phillips playing football for Port Adelaide in 2022 | |
Born | Erin Victoria Phillips 19 May 1985 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
Occupation(s) | Dual-sport athlete in basketball and Australian rules football, WNBA assistant coach |
Known for | 2× WNBA champion (2012, 2014) FIBA World Championship gold medallist (2006) 3× AFLW premiership player (2017, 2019, 2022 (S6)) 2× AFLW league best and fairest (2017, 2019) |
Spouse |
Erin Victoria Phillips OAM (born 19 May 1985) is an Australian sportswoman who plays basketball and formerly played Australian rules football. She played nine seasons in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for five different teams and is a two-time WNBA champion. She also represented Australia on the women's national basketball team, winning a gold medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship for Women and serving as a co-vice captain at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She also played for the Adelaide and Port Adelaide Football Clubs in the AFL Women's (AFLW) competition, retiring in 2023. She is a three-time premiership player and two-time league best and fairest.
Phillips's father Greg played professional Australian rules football for Port Adelaide, where he was an eight-time premiership player and earned an induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. Phillips played only Australian rules football until age 13, switching to basketball because of the lack of professional opportunities for female footballers at the time. She made her debut in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) for the Adelaide Lightning, her hometown team, at the age of 17 and was named to the All-WNBL Team three times by the age of 22, finally winning a WNBL championship in 2008 in her last year with the team. Phillips was drafted into the WNBA in 2005 by the Connecticut Sun. With the Indiana Fever, she established herself as a starter and won her first WNBA title in 2012. She won another WNBA title two years later with the Phoenix Mercury. During her basketball career, Phillips played both point guard and shooting guard, excelling at three-pointers and employing a physical style of play. Following her retirement from the WNBA, she was also an assistant coach for the Dallas Wings, the last team she played for in the league. In 2025, she will return to basketball in the NBL1 Central with the Woodville Warriors.
With the launch of the AFLW in 2017, Phillips began her football career at age 31 as a co-captain of Adelaide. Despite not having played competitive football in nearly 18 years, she quickly emerged as the league's best player and one of its biggest stars. She won the AFLW best and fairest award by a wide margin in both 2017 and 2019, as well as the AFLW Grand Final best on ground as a member of Adelaide's premiership teams in both years. Phillips played as a midfielder and was also one of the leading goal scorers in the competition.