With four weeks until the opening round of the AFLW’s eighth season, football superstar Erin Phillips has revealed she is keenly aware that the 2023 season marks inevitable change, telling August’s SALIFE Magazine that she knows the clock is ticking on her career.

Photograph Sarah Reed

Port Adelaide’s women’s captain Erin Phillips sat down with SALIFE in a wide-ranging interview, in which she spoke about nearing the end of her career.

“I’m 38, so I’m conscious that I’ll obviously make a decision at the end of the year about what’s next,” the three-time All-Australian tells SALIFE.

“But I do find it funny because it’s sport and when you get to a certain age it’s almost like ‘when will you retire?’ becomes the question everyone asks. But I would never ask you when are you retiring, I would never ask people that, however I understand why, I get it, but I do wonder, if people kept asking you that same question, how would you feel?

“But I know my time is coming to an end and I’m quite comfortable knowing that the end of being an athlete is near – I feel fine. I will miss the game when the time comes to hang them up, I will absolutely miss being an athlete but I’ve invested a lot of time outside of being an athlete into making sure my life is in a good place. I have a very wonderful family to support me whatever I do.”

Earlier this week, Port Adelaide announced that Phillips would captain the Power’s AFLW side for a second consecutive season, which will get underway on September 2 when Port faces crosstown rivals, the Crows, in Showdown II at Norwood Oval.

In a wide-ranging and intimate interview, Phillips also discussed growing up in a sporting family spearheaded by her Port Adelaide father Greg; writing her first book, which will come out next year; as well as the trials of IVF that her and wife Tracy Gahan have gone through to create their family. Phillips and Gahan welcomed their fourth child – a daughter, Londyn – in June.

To read the interview and see adorable photographs of the Phillips family, pick up the August issue of SALIFE at newsagents, independent supermarkets, Coles and selected Woolworths Australia stores.