PORT ADELAIDE captain Erin Phillips is excited to open her side’s NAB AFLW season against Adelaide – her former club and one of the most successful teams in the competition.
Off the back of two pre-season wins, Phillips says her group is keen to get stuck into games and see how they stack up against the Crows.
Phillips spoke with the Adelaide media on Monday about the looming challenge of Showdown II, how former Crow Ashleigh Saint is settling in at the Power and tackling the pressure of the club’s second season in the competition.
Phillips on Showdown II
“It's awesome, it's exciting for us, no better way to start your 2023 campaign (than) playing against one of the best teams in the comp. If you want to know where you are early in the season, this is the right team to be playing. Really looking forward to it here at Norwood, hopefully it's a sellout and plenty of people are watching from home.
“I'd obviously love to (get the win). It's going to be a massive test for us and we'll give it everything we have and hopefully the form we've had in pre-season will carry on but it's a great team to come up against and know where you're really at.”
Phillips on where the side is at
“It's hard to tell, we’ve had a really good pre-season and really good pre-season games that we've been happy with, so the test really starts with Round 1. But like I said, there's no better team to come up against than the Adelaide Crows and then even Brisbane straight after that so we're going to find out early where we are in this competition. I know the girls are very, very excited and looking forward to taking on one of the best teams in the comp.”
Phillips on Port Adelaide’s new recruits
“It's actually been really nice (having new) additions and having more time to prepare with them. They’ve slotted in really seamlessly and added to our depth so I'm excited to finally get to play. Kind of on one hand, it feels like we’ve been waiting forever, but all of a sudden, it's here so I know we’re all just excited to get out there and start playing.”
Phillips on marquee recruit Ashleigh Saint
“She's doing really well. Really enjoying playing in a really strong forward line and she's the Ash of old, it's carried across to us, so hopefully she can have the same success and play with that freedom that she did at Adelaide. She's an incredible person and we're really lucky to have her.
Phillips on her position this season
“I think definitely across both those lines, mid and forward, we’ve got a couple of suspensions in our team (Maria Moloney in Round 1 and 2, and Sachi Syme in Round 1) but wherever Lauren Arnell wants me to play, I'll be happy to play.”
Phillips on how her body’s feeling
“The body's good, I've been really lucky this pre-season to not have to undergo any kind of knee surgery, which is new for me, so it's been nice to actually train and get a lot of kilometres in the legs. I’ve just had a really fun year being out there and not on the sidelines and have just enjoyed playing again without having to go through rehab so I'm looking forward to that transitioning on field in Round 1. It's never ideal to have to have surgery and probably when I did I was always chasing my tail a little bit as well, that's what happens unfortunately in sport. I’m really fortunate to be healthy and we have a healthy list so it's going to be tough selection for Lauren and the coaches, which is a great problem to have.”
Phillips on the pressure of season two
“Honestly no, I think less pressure than the first season to be honest, that's how I feel. Just because of how quickly we had to get a team on the field, train together, build connection and start from so far behind compared to the rest of the teams that were already established in the league. This year there's been (a chance to) just a take a breath and really focus on connection, training, getting fitter. We haven't spoken about pressure, we just want to go out there and start putting everything you work so hard on in preseason into Round 1.”
Phillips on playing at Norwood Oval
“We're ready to play anywhere…hopefully it should be packed out, it's going to be beautiful weather, it's a great venue. I’ve been lucky enough to play here and a lot of us have played here and the atmosphere is awesome so I'm all about making sure that people can get to these grassroots ovals and I'm expecting a full house.”
Phillips on her learnings from working in the men's program
“It's fantastic that I get the opportunity to be on the inner sanctum of the men's program and how they go about their training, their meetings, strategy, it's really overwhelming how much goes into just preparing for each round. For me, who is in the later (stage) of my sporting career, it's really been refreshing to be around the younger players, Buttsy (Zak Butters) and (Connor) Rozee and all those guys for me personally it's added a bit more (to my) training style and it's been a lot of fun.”
