Wrapping up a landmark year that included being inducted into the Football Hall of Fame, Erin Phillips and her family are ready for the love and laughter of Christmas.
Because after 16 years as a professional basketballer, representing Australia at two Olympics, winning a World Championship, eight seasons in AFLW, three premierships, and twice being voted best player in the game, Christmas might be her most challenging season yet!
“I love everything about it,” laughs the 2025 AFL Hall of Famer. “The family gathering. Little faces lighting up. Food and music, movies and games. It’s a time of joy and happiness, a time to reflect and remind myself how blessed I am, and try to pass that luck and Christmas spirit on to people less fortunate.”
Does Erin Phillips have children?
The season kicks off early in the Adelaide home that Erin, 40, shares with her wife Tracy Gahan, 45 (a fellow basketball pro whom she met in 2006 and married in 2014), and their rambunctious squad of four children – twins Blake and Brooklyn (10), son Drew (six) and daughter Londyn Skye (two).
Oh, and the four Elves on Shelves the children unleash in early November.
“Our Christmas elves are especially mischievous,” says Erin, her own eyes glinting. “We’ll find them most mornings hanging from the ceiling fans. One night, the elves even painted Texta all over my face while I was sleeping!”
Not that Erin has slept much in what has been a monumental year. In April, she released Inside and Out: A Story of Family, Self and Sport, a memoir about her storied career as a basketballer and footballer, but also her battles with body image, her sexuality and navigating IVF in a same-sex marriage.
“At first, I thought: Am I really that interesting? Reflection doesn’t come easy to most athletes. We tend to park our pain – the defeats and injuries – and move on. But then I felt a responsibility to face all the issues that have been eating at me and make the book a resource for people facing the same challenges.”
After returning, aged 31, to the game she’d loved as a kid, Erin retired from the AFLW in 2023 after eight seasons and 66 games with Port Adelaide and the Adelaide Crows. Her professional basketball career – which spanned nine years, eight teams and five countries – ended in 2018. Until it started again, just briefly, this year.
“It was my last dance, a chance to give back,” says Erin of her winning (“and definitely final!”) year playing with the Woodville Warriors in Adelaide’s semi-pro NBL1. “It was my junior club, the place I discovered my love for competition, and my daughter was playing, so I volunteered to coach the kids as well. It was so much fun.”
Erin also coaches her kids in AFL, a role that often brings her to tears.
“These girls have a pathway to professionalism that my generation never had,” she says, her voice quaking. “Sport is wonderful for health, teamwork, problem-solving and resilience, but these girls can take their skills and dreams all the way to AFLW.”
Currently hobbling around on two newly repaired knees, Erin’s own competitive spirit in 2026 will be confined to a motivational speaking tour for her book, mentoring the Adelaide 36ers men’s basketball side, her role as a Seven Network sports commentator and her regular radio gigs.
Who is Erin Phillip’s father?
That said, her New Year’s resolution is to “get a golf handicap and beat Dad.” And on past form, there’s every chance she’ll at least equal him.
In June, her dad (former VFL star Greg Phillips) and much of the AFL world were in tears when Erin and Daisy Pearce became the first AFLW players to be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
“I can’t imagine how hard it would’ve been to tell your 13-year-old daughter she couldn’t play the game she loves anymore,” Erin said in her acceptance speech, remembering a time when there simply were no women’s teams. “But now, 27 years later, she’s standing next to you in the Hall of Fame.”
Erin also expressed gratitude to the pioneering women in football who had “kicked down the door so others could walk through.”
Erin’s dad and her whole family will be feeling the love again this Christmas. And they’ll celebrate with some tried-and-true traditions.
“Dad will do a barbecue breakfast, and Mum will do a roast lunch,” she smiles. “Usually, I run the playlist, and my older sisters run the games. Everyone’s in and out of the pool between stuffing themselves. Finally, seafood from Dad’s crabbing trips is served for dinner.”
The traditions come with a twist these days. Erin has been vegan since 2016, and her family alternates festive season celebrations between Adelaide and Tracy’s family in Texas, where the fire roars and carollers sing.
But one thing never changes.
“We donate as many gifts as we give,” says Erin. “We try to spread the love.”
Erin’s Christmas picks
Favourite Christmas song?
‘Happy Xmas (War Is Over)’ by John Lennon. It is my mum’s favourite, and it’s mine, too. It brings up lots of happy memories.
Favourite Christmas film?
Tracy and I have a tradition of watching Love Actually on Christmas Eve as we wrap presents. The kids love Home Alone, The Grinch and Klaus.
Weirdest family tradition?
Tracy’s mum, back in Texas, has a Christmas pickle. It’s a plastic pickle she stuffs with money and hides in trees for the kids to hunt.
What snacks do you leave out for Santa?
Santa might score a beer. The reindeer get rolled oats.
It’s Christmas when …
Adelaide’s Christmas Pageant is on. That’s our cue to get the decorations up.
This article originally appeared in the Christmas 2025 issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly. Subscribe so you never miss an issue.
