Erin Phillips declares herself to be in great shape ahead of season three of the AFLW

Last season was interrupted with a quad injury but Crows star Erin Phillips has put in the hard yards during the off-season and has returned to full training with her teammates

“Third time’s a charm”. That’s the mantra of Crows superstar Erin Phillips as she returns to full training ahead of Season Three of the AFLW.

Phillips, who missed two games and then battled hard on one leg for much of the Crows last season, said she felt great after recovering from the injury in her right quad, ahead of February’s season launch.

“(Coach) ‘Doc’ Clarke and the medical staff are doing a fantastic job with me and the plan is to stay this way,” she said at a media appearance yesterday.

“Hopefully come February, 2, at 8.10pm, I’ll be running out on the field instead of up in the stands watching.

“I feel really, really good with where I am at the moment.”

In the off-season Phillips returned to the United States where she had coaching duties with the Dallas Wings in the WNBA.

But she used her time overseas to do rehab on her quad and she trained at the Dallas-based Michael Johnson Performance Centre, where elite performance trainers whipped her into tip-top, lean shape.

The training work included stints on underwater treadmills that mimic on-land running and her rehabilitation was optimised using state-of-the-art sport medicine software.

“They do a lot of work with NFL players and NFL kickers,” she said.

“It was just another resource for me overseas while I was coaching with the Dallas Wings.

“(There are) unbelievable facilities over there and they’re probably going to get a few AFL and AFLW players coming over there in the off-season.”

Crows superstar player Erin Phillips in the tunnel at Coopers Stadium, Norwood. She has declared herself fit and has returned to full training. Photo: AAP/Mark Brake

At 33, Phillips is part of the “over-30” club that exists in the Crows’ AFLW side, which includes Courtney Cramey and Phillips’s former Adelaide Lightning basketball teammate Jess Foley.

“The over-30 club is an internal joke in our team that we get a bit of modified training, not a lot, but a bit,” she said.

“Like (them) and I, we’re in our 30s, we’re just grateful for the opportunity to be able to do this,’ she said.

“I’ve met so many women in their 40s and even 50s … who would give anything to be 21 again to have this opportunity.

“There is that inside of me: you play for them.”

Phillips welcome Foley to the team — which this year includes 10 new players.

“I didn’t think I was ever going to play footy up until three years ago and I never thought I’d be playing with Jess.

“She’s playing so well, it’s not just even her coming out and giving it a go, she is legitimately a great player and coming from that basketball background and elite professional experience she’s had, she reads the game as well as anybody and that’s that basketball reactive work she’s been doing.

“It’s great to be back teammates again.”

She said the Crows side had placed big expectations on themselves for the season ahead.

“We’re training really well,” she said.

“It’s hard to gauge where you’re at so early in pre-season, but from everything the girls have been doing and the work they’ve been putting in, has been fantastic.

“At this point, couldn’t ask for any more and we’ll just see how we go.”