Kicking new goals

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.

- ANGUS FONTAINE

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, Erin Phillips is ready for her most challenging season yet: Christmas.

“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.”

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 years old), 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.