By Lachlan Abbott
Three-time Adelaide premiership player Erin Phillips has announced she is leaving the Crows and will join Port Adelaide as the expansion AFLW club’s inaugural signing.
Adelaide announced Phillips’ departure to an expansion club in a statement on Wednesday morning, which was shortly followed by the Power’s confirmation she will join the club that her father Greg played for.
Erin Phillips after winning this year’s AFLW premiership.Credit: Getty Images
Phillips, 36, was an inaugural member of the Crows, and has become one of the biggest names in the competition, having won two league best-and-fairest awards, two grand final best-on-ground medals and two AFLW Players’ Most Valuable Player awards.
She described the move to Port Adelaide as a homecoming, with her father playing 343 games and winning eight premierships for the Port Adelaide Magpies in the SANFL between 1976 and 1993. Phillips was also previously committed to becoming Port Adelaide’s first female player when the club was considering a bid to join the inaugural AFLW season, which the club ultimately decided against.
Phillips instead joined the Crows for the first AFLW season in 2017, spending six seasons at the club and co-captaining the team from 2017 until before the 2021 season.
“I obviously have great memories and friendships from my time at Adelaide, which I will cherish forever,” Phillips said in Port Adelaide’s statement.
“But as a kid growing up, all I wanted was to be like Dad and play football for the Port Adelaide Football Club. Port Adelaide feels like home to me. It’s where I spent a lot of my childhood.
“It was always my dream to be able to represent the club and add to its incredible history, and I am beyond thrilled to finally get that chance and play a role in building this team from the ground up.”
Phillips thanked the Crows, where she played 46 games and was a key part of the most successful AFLW side in the young competition’s history. Phillips’ final game with the club was its 2022 grand final triumph against Melbourne at the Adelaide Oval.
“I am forever grateful to the Adelaide Football Club and the members and supporters for the opportunity to represent this amazing club for the past six years,” Phillips said.
“I want to thank my teammates, the staff and in particular Matthew Clarke, Phil Harper and Vicki Daldy, for the support they have provided me and my family.
“The lifelong friendships I have made is why this decision has been incredibly difficult but I leave knowing they will forever remain a special part of me, and I wish them nothing but the best for the future.”
Crows AFLW Head of Football Phil Harper said the club had made a strong offer to retain Phillips, who he said was “the best player of her generation”. Harper said the competition’s expansion to 18 teams would inevitably result in more player movement.
“In terms of player retention, history says having a strong and winning culture is as important as any factor and we have done all we possibly can,” he said.
“Given our depth of talent and knowing in advance that expansion teams would target our players, we have been working to a deliberate and well-thought-out list management strategy.”
Phillips was a decorated basketballer before her football career, winning championships in the Australian WNBL and American WNBA alongside an Olympic silver medal in 2008.
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