Latest news with #ErinPhillips
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
'Nothing I could do': Erin Phillips opens up on 'awful' moment suffered by her and wife
AFLW champion Erin Phillips has opened up for the first time about wife Tracy suffering a miscarriage just days before she played in the preliminary final in 2022. Phillips is a legend of AFLW, winning three premierships and two league best and fairest awards. She's also a two-time WNBA champion in basketball, and won a gold medal at the FIBA world championships in 2006. Since retiring she's made a successful transition into the media, becoming a star of Channel 7's footy coverage. She has four kids with wife Tracy, and showed off her beautiful family when she was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame in June. But speaking on Channel 7's 'Unfiltered' program this week, the 40-year-old revealed for the first time the heartbreak and pain of losing an unborn child. Phillips revealed that Tracy miscarried with their fourth pregnancy, which occurred just three days before she helped the Adelaide Crows made the 2022 grand final. 'It took us two years before we had (twins) Blake and Brooklyn, and we had multiple unsuccessful pregnancies where we couldn't even get pregnant," Phillips said. "We tried. We moved on to the IVF route, which is more expensive, obviously. (We were) maybe a bit more hopeful in the chances of becoming parents, and we end up getting five embryos. We tried for two, and we were just hopeful to just get one, and we won the lottery. We got two, we got Blake in Brooklyn. 'I thought, after all the sleepless nights and ... just how crazy life was, I thought maybe we'd be done at two, because looking after kids is a full-time job. And so we decided to have another one. So we go for three and then we had Drew straight away, no problem. And then we tried for number four, thinking that this is easy, like the hard part's done. "We've had one, two and three. All the three embryos took. Why wouldn't number four take? And initially it did. And then three days before the prelim in 2022, three days before we played Fremantle in the prelim at Adelaide Oval, Tracy miscarriages. 'And it was one of the most just devastating, hardest, awful moments to see your your wife, your partner, go through that. As her wife, there was nothing I could do to make it better. You just feel so helpless to see her go through that. 'We got to the obstetrician thinking it was a regular scan, (but the scan is) saying there's no heartbeat anymore. And it was like, it was a shock. It was like, we can't possibly be hearing that, surely not." "Tracy miscarriages and it was one of the most devastating, hardest, awful moments. To see your wife go through that, as her wife, there was nothing I could do to make it better, you feel so helpless."An incredibly brave Erin Phillips opens up about one of the most challenging… — 7AFL (@7AFL) August 13, 2025 Erin Phillips 'didn't talk about it to anybody' Phillips said she kept the devastating news a secret and put all her energy into the preliminary final. 'We didn't talk about it with anybody," she said. "We didn't want to tell people what we were going through, because we didn't really want people to worry. "I didn't want anyone to feel like that something was wrong, and I had a prelim, and I know that seems so irrelevant, a game, and it is in many respects, but it was also a big game that I wanted to find the energy and the willpower to go and perform and bring some joy into back into our lives. 'And and there was also this element of, you know, we were so lucky. We've already got three kids, you know. We miscarried our fourth. Should we even be feeling like we were unlucky or should we even be grieving. 'There were so many emotions going on at the time when we won the grand final, it was like the final siren was the moment that I could actually just grieve. You know, I just, I just wanted to bring some joy back in that moment for Trace and what we just been through. And football seemed like such a small part of what we were going through, but we were able to celebrate and find some joy in that moment." RELATED: Ken Hinkley responds after Collingwood player linked with Port Sydney Swans champion flags full-time code-switch with NRL club Erin and Tracy eventually overcame the loss and welcomed fourth child Londyn Skye in 2023. 'Our family is complete,' Phillips wrote on social media at the time.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
Aussie footy great Erin Phillips opens up on the 'devastating' family tragedy that left her 'feeling helpless'
In an emotional and honest interview, AFLW icon Erin Phillips has opened up on one of the most difficult periods of her life after revealing that her wife, Tracy Gahan, had a miscarriage in 2022. The AFLW trailblazer, aged 40, said she felt 'helpless' upon learning the news, which she added came just three days before she was due to step onto the footy pitch to play in a preliminary final against Fremantle. The cross-code star began her professional sporting career playing basketball, picking up the WNBL title with the Adelaide Lightning in 2008 before winning two WNBA championships with the Indiana Fever and Phoenix Mercury. Her partner Tracy, is also a pro basketball player. The American first met Phillips while they were both playing for the Adelaide Lightning. Phillips, a key component of the Adelaide Crows AFLW side that won flags in 2017, 2019 and again in 2022, revealed to Hamish McLaughlin on Channel 7's Unfiltered that she and her partner had undergone IVF treatment. 'It took us two years before we had Blake and Brooklyn, and we had multiple unsuccessful pregnancies where we couldn't even get pregnant. We tried. We moved on to the IVF route, which is more expensive, obviously,' the Channel 7 footy broadcaster said on Unfiltered. "Tracy miscarriages and it was one of the most devastating, hardest, awful moments. To see your wife go through that, as her wife, there was nothing I could do to make it better, you feel so helpless." An incredibly brave Erin Phillips opens up about one of the most challenging… — 7AFL (@7AFL) August 13, 2025 '(We were) maybe a bit more hopeful in the chances of becoming parents, and we end up getting five embryos. We tried for two, and we were just hopeful to just get one, and we won the lottery. We got two, we got Blake and Brooklyn. 'I thought, after all the sleepless nights and ... just how crazy life was, I thought maybe we'd be done at two, because looking after kids is a full-time job. 'And so we decided to have another one. So we go for three and then we had Drew straight away, no problem. And then we tried for number four, thinking that this is easy, like the hard part's done. Phillips, heartbreakingly, then revealed that the couple lost their fourth child during Tracy's pregnancy. 'We've had one, two and three. All three embryos took. Why wouldn't number four take? And initially it did,' she said on Unfiltered. 'And then three days before the prelim in 2022, three days before we played Fremantle in the prelim at Adelaide Oval, Tracy miscarried. 'And it was one of the most just... devastating, hardest, awful moments to see your wife, your partner, go through that. 'As her wife, there was nothing I could do to make it better. You just feel so helpless to see her go through that. 'We got to the obstetrician thinking it was a regular scan, (but the scan is) saying there's no heartbeat anymore. And it was like, it was a shock. It was like, we can't possibly be hearing that, surely not.' Phillips stated she and Tracy didn't want to tell anyone what they had been going through as the pair 'didn't want others to worry' about them. 'I didn't want anyone to feel like that something was wrong, and I had a prelim, and I know that seems so irrelevant, a game, and it is in many respects, but it was also a big game that I wanted to find the energy and the willpower to go and perform and bring some joy back into our lives. 'And there was also this element of, you know, we were so lucky. We've already got three kids, you know. You know, we miscarried our fourth. Should we even be feeling like we were unlucky or should we even be grieving.' Phillips would start at half-forward for the Crows during the 2022 Preliminary Final against Fremantle. She booted a goal and 13 disposals to help her side secure a 40-26 victory and their passage to the Grand Final. The two-time AFLW best and fairest winner kicked another goal during the Grand Final against Melbourne, to spur her side on to their third AFLW premiership title. During her interview on Unfiltered, she explained that she wanted to bring some joy back to her partner, Tracy, and her family, following such a difficult period. 'There were so many emotions going on at the time when we won the grand final, it was like the final siren was the moment that I could actually just grieve. You know, I just, I just wanted to bring some joy back in that moment for Trace and what we had just been through. She would go on to lead Adelaide to Grand Final glory in 2022, and in June celebrated her induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame with her family on the Blue Carpet at the Crown Palladium in Melbourne 'And football seemed like such a small part of what we were going through, but we were able to celebrate and find some joy in that moment.' In June, Phillips, who dreamt of playing pro football like her father, was honoured for her glittering career in the AFLW as she was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. It meant that the three-time All-Australian and her dad, Greg, became the first father-daughter pair to be inducted into the illustrious club. And during the Hall of Fame ceremony, Phillips celebrated the accolade with her partner Tracy and their young family on the blue carpet at the Crown Palladium.
7NEWS
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
How to watch AFLW live and free on Seven and 7plus Sport
The best commentary team in footy is ready and raring for an elite 10th season of the AFLW competition live and free on Seven, 7mate and 7plus Sport. A blockbuster double-header kicks it all off on Thursday night as the league's 18 teams prepare for 12 weeks of battle ahead of the finals and the AFLW grand final in November. In a major coup for Seven viewers, legendary broadcaster Bruce McAvaney will host coverage of the Carlton-Collingwood opener while Australian Football Hall of Fame inductee Erin Phillips also returns for the full season. Seven will also welcome rising star Jack Heverin to the commentary team following his successful contribution to the recent 7AFL Kids Call campaign. In addition to Phillips and Heverin, Seven also welcomes back a stellar line-up of the game's best callers and experts, including Jason Bennett, Nigel Carmody, Natalie Edwards, Melissa Hickey, Abbey Holmes, Akec Makur Chuot, Kate McCarthy, Alister Nicholson, Sarah Olle, Jo Wotton and current North Melbourne Tasmanian Kangaroos AFLW star Libby Birch. Rounding out the team are 7NEWS Melbourne sport reporters Theo Doropoulos and Kate Massey. AFL greats Nick Riewoldt, Matthew Richardson and Cameron Ling will join Seven's commentary team for Round 1. Fans will also enjoy more in-depth coverage on the screens of Seven with increased slow-motion cameras, drone usage and player interviews on the boundary. The use of ball chip technology also arrives for the first time in an AFLW broadcast. In celebration of her Hall of Fame honour, Erin Phillips joins Seven's Unfiltered this week for an unmissable sit-down with Hamish McLachlan. Reflecting on her extraordinary dual-sport career, Erin opens up about the highs, the heartbreaks and the moments that shaped her on and off the field. The powerful episode of Unfiltered airs Wednesday night at 9.30pm on Seven and 7plus Sport, straight after The Front Bar. Match action gets underway on Thursday with Carlton v Collingwood, and straight after the full-time siren Seven will head to Western Australia for the Eagles' clash with the Suns. Coverage begins from 7pm AEST live and free on Seven, 7mate and 7plus Sport. The following matches will round out Seven's Round 1 coverage: Sydney Swans v Richmond, Friday 5.00pm AEST on 7mate and 7plus (NSW only) GWS GIANTS v Essendon, Saturday 5.30pm AEST on 7mate and 7plus (NSW only) Western Bulldogs v Melbourne, Saturday 7.30pm AEST on 7mate and 7plus Brisbane Lions v Hawthorn, Sunday 12.30pm AEST on Seven, 7mate and 7plus St Kilda v Adelaide Crows, Sunday 1.30pm AEST on Seven and 7plus (SA only) Port Adelaide v Fremantle, Sunday 3.30pm AEST (SA) and 2.00pm (WA) on Seven, 7mate and 7plus Footy fans will be treated to more women's footy content when Seven brings back its weekly AFLW talk show Talking W starring Kate McCarthy and AFL Media's Riley Beveridge. Kate and Riley will discuss all the biggest women's footy headlines while providing expert match analysis and takeaways from the previous round, live and free on 7plus Sport every Tuesday night. 'We're at an important moment in AFLW's history and I suspect this season is going to be even bigger than the past nine. I cannot wait,' McCarthy said. 'Looking at the clubs and how they've handled the gruelling pre-season, it's hard to go past the big three — Kangaroos, Brisbane and Adelaide. However, outside of those, I expect Melbourne to step up again and have a real impact on the competition. 'Hawthorn will be burning after the finals heartbreak last year and Fremantle also have some guns back and I think will be a real challenge. 'Ash Centra was pick No.1 for a reason and I cannot wait to see her burst out of the gates and have an unbelievable first season. Havana Harris has been ready for a long time and viewers should be excited about her potential impact this year.' Footy fans in NSW, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland will also be able to tune into matches featuring teams from their home states, live and free on Seven and 7plus Sport. Watch AFLW on Seven and 7plus Sport THURSDAY, AUGUST 14 Carlton v Collingwood Sydney and Brisbane 7.00pm live on 7mate and 7plus Sport Melbourne 7.00pm live on Seven and 7plus Sport Adelaide 6.30pm live on 7mate and 7plus Sport Perth 5.00pm live on 7mate and 7plus Sport West Coast v Gold Coast Sydney and Brisbane 9.10pm live on 7mate and 7plus Sport Melbourne 9.10pm live on Seven and 7plus Sport Adelaide 8.40pm live on 7mate and 7plus Sport Perth 7.10pm live on 7mate and 7plus Sport Head here to watch the season openers live and free on 7plus Sport FRIDAY, AUGUST 15 Sydney v Richmond Sydney 5.00pm live on 7two and 7plus Sport SATURDAY, AUGUST 16 GWS Giants v Essendon Sydney 5.30pm live on 7mate and 7plus Sport Western Bulldogs v Melbourne Melbourne 7.30pm live on 7mate and 7plus Sport Brisbane 7.30pm live on 7mate and 7plus Sport Perth 5.30pm live on 7mate and 7plus Sport SUNDAY, AUGUST 17 Brisbane v Hawthorn Melbourne 12.30pm live on Seven and 7plus Sport Brisbane 12.30pm live on 7mate and 7plus Sport St Kilda v Adelaide Crows Adelaide 1.30pm live Seven on 7plus Sport Port Adelaide v Fremantle Adelaide 3.30pm live on Seven and 7plus Sport Perth 2.00pm live on 7mate and 7plus Sport TUESDAY, AUGUST 19 Talking W
7NEWS
3 days ago
- Sport
- 7NEWS
Unfiltered: Erin Phillips opens up on 2016 Olympics heartbreak
Dual sports legend Erin Phillips has opened up on her Olympics heartbreak in a powerful interview with Hamish McLachlan on Unfiltered. Phillips, who was a superstar basketballer before joining the AFLW, felt like she let the entire country down at the Rio Olympics in 2016. Unfiltered, featuring Erin Phillips 9.30pm Wednesday straight after The Front Bar on Seven and 7plus. After starting her basketball career for the Adelaide Lightning in the WNBL, Phillips was drafted to the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA in 2005. She enjoyed a decorated career in America, winning two championships with the Indiana Fever (2012) and Phoenix Mercury (2014) and playing for five teams across nine years. Phillips also solidified her spot in the national team and was a member of the Opals team that won silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. After being controversially overlooked for the 2012 Games in London, Phillips was back in favour four years later and was co-captain of the team in Rio. But after sweeping their round robin group, the Opals suffered a shock loss to Serbia in the quarter-finals that ended their streak of five consecutive Olympics with a medal. 'Any time someone mentions Rio (it still affects me),' she says. 'I couldn't talk about Rio for a year because you're playing in the Olympics, you have a whole country behind you, you're playing for the Opals who are so successful, you're one of the leaders of the team. 'And yes every team can have a bad day, you don't always get your fairytale but consequences of losing that was just for me was just so severe. 'I felt like I had let so many people down, an entire country down, that had hoped the Opals would at least medal, that was the standard and we should have. 'That was a failure for Australia and you were a part of that. 'They were really hard times after that, I couldn't even stay after the Olympics, I left. I couldn't do the closing ceremony, I just felt so much shame on myself personally.' Phillips said she used the disappointment of Rio to fuel her stunning AFLW career, but added that she'll never get over it. 'I'm in a place where I've accepted it, but I won't get over it,' she said. Phillips joined Adelaide for the inaugural season of the AFLW and went on to win three premierships, two league best and fairests and two AFLW grand final best on ground medals, among a host of other individual accolades. She was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame this year.
The Guardian
11-06-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Australian football is notably richer when it's open to everyone
The 30th Australian Football Hall of Fame was a reminder that there's more to the sport than the AFL. It was a reminder that the talent in Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania was at various times every bit the equal of what was coming out of Victoria. Last night's inductees included a five-time All Australian, a self-described 'little fat kid from Colac', and a man considered the best ever Tasmanian footballer never to play on the mainland. They included a man who took more marks than anyone else in the history of VFL/AFL football, a giant raconteur from South Australia who reflected that 'football was simply something I did on a Saturday,' and a seven-time premiership player in the WAFL who later umpired five grand finals. A goalkicking machine from South Australia during the Depression years was also elevated to legend status. But last night's event did something very different to the preceding three decades – it inducted two AFLW players. Erin Phillips won two WNBA championships, a basketball world championship gold medal and represented Australia at two Olympics. But until just over a decade ago, the idea of playing Australian football professionally seemed fanciful. 'I never wanted to be a boy,' she said last night, 'I just wanted the opportunities they had and that was footy.' Her dad, Greg, a Hall of Famer himself, was a fine footballer for Port Adelaide and Collingwood. He had thighs like John Nicholls, the sort of legs that could prop up jetties. Last night he was a blubbering mess. 'I can't imagine what it would be like to tell your 13-year-old daughter that she can't play the game she loves any more,' his daughter said. 'Now she's standing next to you in the Hall of Fame.' Daisy Pearce bashed down the same barriers. 'I'm a pretty determined bugger,' she said last night. She won 10 premierships and seven competition best and fairests at the local level, before becoming a key driver of the AFLW. There were dozens of Hall of Famers in the room last night but few of them finished their careers on such a high note. Her dad, Daryl, also her junior coach, suffered a stroke in recent years and missed her final game, a premiership. But he was in the room last night to see her inducted into the Hall of Fame. Football's women, a correspondent wrote in The Age in the 1970s, 'are mere appendages to the game, extras in an all-male saga, tolerated but not taken seriously'. That sentiment prevailed until not that long ago. In some corners of the internet and the industry more broadly, it still does. But more than anyone else, champion players like Phillips and Pearce proved the folly of this. They reminded men that this game they were brought up to assume was theirs is now open to the other 50.2% of the population, and that it's all the richer for it. Nearly three-quarters of a million girls and women now play Australian rules football. Pearce and Phillips, one suspects, would be pivotal figures for nearly all of them. Every inductee last night said a variation of the same thing. They looked around the room and they saw their childhood heroes. Garry Lyon had a poster of Tim Watson on his wall. Nick Riewoldt idolised Jason Dunstall. Phillips followed her dad everywhere, even to the premiership dais. 'To look around the room right now – these were my gods,' Pearce said. She and Phillips said they could never have imagined standing in front of a room such as this as fellow professional footballers, as fellow Hall of Fame members, and as equals. The Hawks have won their past seven matches at UTAS Stadium with their last loss coming against the Crows in 2023. Nick Riewoldt, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame last night, was one of the great players of last few decades. Few made their direct opponent work harder or run further. Few deserved a premiership more. But few were so tortured by nerves and anxiety before games. He described it as like being on death row, awaiting execution. 'It was something to endure, not enjoy,' he said. He described it as a 'pit in your stomach feeling, fuelled by the fear of not performing perfectly and the judgment that came with it.' For 24 hours before a game, he would sweat, struggle to sleep and eat, pace the house, snap at everyone and generally be a nightmare to himself and all around him. He would always be the first to arrive at the ground, whereupon he would warm up with a routine akin to Rocky Balboa training in Russia. The minute the ball was bounced, he was fine, and it was his opponent's time to start sweating. The Melbourne captain backs May for 'showing care, his version of care', while speaking on Triple M radio, after the teammates' confrontation after a late turnover in the narrow loss to Collingwood. 'To borrow an infamous line from Will Smith, I think Melbourne should take our players' names out of their mouth. It's interesting, hearing the captain and coach speak specifically on Luke was really disappointing.' Fremantle chief executive, Simon Garlick, takes a swipe at Melbourne while speaking on SEN WA Mornings, after the Demons made not-so subtle overtures to their former key forward Luke Jackson. Any thoughts you want to share? Reply to this email or send your views to fromthepocket@ Sign up to From the Pocket: AFL Weekly Jonathan Horn brings expert analysis on the week's biggest AFL stories after newsletter promotion Western Bulldogs (including as Footscray) are part of the three longest streaks for matches played against an opponent without meeting in a final. Which club do they share the record with? Answers in next week's newsletter, but if you think you know it, hit reply and let me know. Last week's answer: Which clubs have met in the most grand finals? Collingwood and Melbourne have played seven times with a premiership on the line. Congratulations to Michael Courtney, who was first to reply with the right answer. No team is better than Collingwood at adapting to the needs of the moment – and the ladder leaders keep on winning even if by the narrowest of margins against Melbourne. Reply to this email and drop me a line, or email fromthepocket@ Have a friend who might? Forward this to them, or tell them how to get it.
