Why Erin Phillips is back in basketball after nine years

The dual-sport champion on her return to NBL1 action, her new autobiography and her love of working with young players

If Erin Phillips had only played basketball, she would have gone down in Australia’s sporting history as a champion. A silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and three appearances in the WNBL All-Star Five are just a couple of the accolades she achieved. Of course, there was a whole other dimension to her story, where she played – and dominated – AFLW, winning two Best and Fairest Awards and starring in three premierships.

Photo credit: NBL1

Now, for the first time in nine years, she’s back as a basketballer, joining Woodville Warriors in NBL1 Central for the 2025 season.

She tells The Pick and Roll that she always hoped to return to the court post-football. “I’d left it open. I didn’t know where or who or what, but my thoughts were always that I could hopefully play again. Even more, I wanted to play with my wife Tracy [Gahan]; our goal was to one day maybe play together.”

A long-time friend of Phillips, Paul Vandenbergh, had always semi-jokingly tried to recruit her to his club. Then Phillips’ daughter started playing for the Woodville under 10s team, and her old Adelaide Lightning coach, Vicky Daldy, came on board as the senior women’s coach. Things were falling into place for a return.

“The thought of [playing again] excited me, so I thought: why not give it a go? I’d wanted to be around a young team with a good group of girls, and it’s been a lot of fun.”