AFLW Trailblazers Erin Phillips and Daisy Pearce Join Football Hall of Fame

AFLW trailblazer Erin Phillips was moved to tears as she became one of the few women inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

Phillips, alongside Daisy Pearce, have become the first AFLW players inducted to the hall of fame.

Phillips and Pearce accepted the honour on Tuesday night, with the former paying tribute to her father, Greg who was inducted into the hall in 2020 after solidifying his legacy as a Port Adelaide legend. The pair are the first father-daughter duo in the Hall.

“To dad, I can’t imagine how hard it would have been to tell your 13-year-old daughter that she couldn’t play the game she loves any more,” she said. “And 27 years later, she’s standing next to you in the Hall of Fame.”

“Thank you for teaching me a game that I loved, and even though you knew it wasn’t going to take me anywhere at the time, you still taught me anyway.”

A hard-won legacy

As a child, Phillips was the only girl in her AFL team, and was forced to stop playing once she became a teenager. She switched to basketball, where she made her WNBL debut as a 17-year-old, before representing Australia at two Olympic games.

It was only when AFLW launched professionally in 2017 that Phillips could return to the game she first loved.

She holds the record for the most decorated elite women’s football player to date, as a three-time premiership player, two-time league best and fairest, three-time All Australian, two-time grand final best on ground and two-time club champion.

Phillips also thanked her wife, Tracy Gahan, who is a retired WNBA player, before recognising the first woman inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2021, Debbie Lee.

“Debbie, you kicked down this door so others could walk through,” Phillips said.

“[You’re the] first female member of the Hall of Fame [and] I’m so proud to be by your side, and I can’t wait to kick more doors down with you Deb.”

 

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Daisy Pearce, who was Melbourne’s first ever signed AFLW player, told the crowd that leading her team to victory at the 2022 grand final- the last game of her career- was the greatest day of her life.

“It’s controversial to say this, as a mother … don’t get me wrong, they’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, but on a technicality, the day itself is not that good,” Pearce said.

“Give me grand final day every day of the week.”