FOR THE first time in her life Erin Phillips heads to Alberton Oval as the enemy.
The inaugural Yartapuulti captain is now the general manager of women's football with Gold Coast and faces the club she grew up at on Saturday afternoon in what will be a "strange experience", and although there will be plenty of familiar faces around, they're not friends until after the game.
"It's a really special ground to be able to play on, regardless of who you play for. You look at last week's crowd (and) you know they've really invested in their AFLW program. I know Port Adelaide fans always show up," Phillips told AFL.com.au.
"I've obviously still got really close friends on Port Adelaide's team, one of my best mates Justine Mules-Robinson is the captain of that side, and I'm screening her calls. We're not talking before the game. We're catching up after the game, but that's all I know."
Phillips laughs and seems relaxed. It's a calmness that somewhat contrasts the competitive, driven Phillips that took the AFLW by storm as a player. That's not to say she's any less driven now, but there’s a little more lightness shining through.
Part of that is certainly her finding the right place to land post-retirement.
Since retiring Phillips has taken up coaching roles in South Australia and was working in a football operations role at the AFL when approached by the Suns.
"I'm so happy. When you retire, you kind of go through this period of like, 'What do I do next?' The only thing you've ever wanted to be really is an athlete your whole life for most athletes, and then it's like, 'OK, well, what's next?'" Phillips explained.
"I've got to experience a couple of years in the AFL, which gave me great insight on more of the holistic picture of the AFL, and I was really appreciative of that experience. And then to go back to clubland, I thought about trying to see if there was a role at Port or the Crows but then I thought, well I feel like I need to go out and do something a little bit different and step outside of my comfort zone.
"Sometimes the obvious choice isn't always the right choice, so coming up here and being involved and working with such a great bunch of athletes and great staff. I've never, ever come through these doors at work and thought I'm going to work. It's a real passion of mine."
Her current role is the closest Phillips has found to that feeling of being an athlete running out every week. It scratches the itch.
But moving from Adelaide to the Gold Coast required some sacrifice on her family's part. And while the timing was perfect in some respects – her and wife Tracy's four kids are still young enough to move states without too much disruption – in others it wasn't.
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"We had just finished a renovation on our house. It was meant to be our forever home in Adelaide, and we hadn't even been in there for a year and a half, and I'm going 'Oh my god, surely we can’t move now, we've just set everything up here'," Phillips said.
"We came up, both of us, and had a look at the club and just sat and had a chat and said, 'What do you reckon?' The kids are still young enough to have this experience and still be OK, high school gets a little bit harder, but for at least the next few years, let's give it a go and see what we can do."
Making sure it was right for her family was crucial but also knowing that she had something to give the club was equally important to Phillips.
Her skillset was always going to be perfectly suited to some parts of the role and not necessarily ideal for others. She was upfront with the club – specifically men’s general manager Craig Cameron and CEO Mark Evans – about where she would need support.
"I've loved every single minute of being up here, you know, besides all the budgeting and spreadsheets. I'm telling you, that's not my strength, but I've got people around me, the support around me to fast track these areas. I was pretty straight up with them, I was like, 'Look, these are going to be my weaknesses, I'm going to need help here'," Phillips said.
What she has been able to offer, however, makes up for any reluctance around spreadsheets. With such a young list – 10 Suns players are still teenagers – finding the senior leadership both on and off the field has been vital.
This was a big driver for the club's wooing of Phillips.
"It's almost like you're at a starting point again. I called it episode one, season two of the Suns," Phillips said.
"We're trying to build a different identity, and we're trying to create a really high-performance environment that builds winning cultures and builds successful teams. It's been nice to feel like the first day of school together in many ways and growing together. I've loved sitting back many times and just watching their eyes get so wide and their heads spinning a little bit, because now they're playing in the best league and it's so awesome to see the birth of their careers. And you get to witness it."
While Phillips has a wealth of experience across both basketball and footy, one piece of advice has shaped her approach to leading the group.
"Some random guy just told me, we were just sitting having a chat in a hotel lobby, and he goes, 'They're not going to want to know everything that you know, they're just going to want to know that you care about them' and it really hit a nerve with me," Phillips said.
"You're going to give them bits of advice here and there, but they're going to have to go through the weeds to figure it out themselves."
This month has also been a chance for Phillips to reflect on what she was doing around the age of most of the Suns’ players, with the 20-year anniversary of the Australian Opals' World Championship win coming up.
At that tournament Phillips was the young kid learning from her experienced teammates, and it has largely shaped her approach since.
"I feel like I've lived two separate lives. I forget that yeah, I did play basketball back in the day. And then you get reminded when you go to these reunions and you get to spend time with your past teammates," Phillips said.
"I had such incredible role models on the court. I'm looking at Penny Taylor and how she competed, and Lauren Jackson and how she competed. Jenny Whittle was my roommate at the World Championships, and how she supported and looked after me. And so I think about those people and how they shaped the way and experience that I have had in my time as a player.
"And then to try to figure out how I can use those experiences, use those role models to help me be a good role model for the younger players here."
It has also been a chance to converge paths with Rhyce Shaw once again. Phillips' father Greg and Shaw's uncle Tony played together at Collingwood in the 1980s, and one of Shaw's uncles – whether it was Tony or Neville, Phillips is unsure – was the second person to hold Phillips as a baby.
"The Shaw and Phillips connection has been really strong. And I honestly didn't have much to do with Rhyce, I think we did share a creche once upon a time when we were very young, but out paths haven't really crossed again up until this point," Phillips said.
"But I obviously knew who he was through footy, and when I spoke to him about it and just listening to his passion and his vision and where he sees this team going and this club and how I can fit into it, it was honestly the first time since retiring, this is the job that ticks the boxes. You get the adrenaline. You get the winning and losing each week as a team."
They'll be hoping to upset the Power faithful on Saturday with a win in front of a crowd that would ordinarily be cheering Phillips on. But the biggest challenge might just be trying to get Greg to wear a Suns scarf.
"I'm bringing him a Gold Coast scarf. I'm not sure Dad will put it on, I've pushed the limits on some teams but I’m sure there'll be a lot of Gold Coast fans in the crowd and a lot of them will be my family. Hopefully," Phillips laughed.
"It's (Dad's) choice whether he wants to wear it or not. So we'll wait and see. He has surprised me before. I never thought I'd get him in a Crows one and look what happened. So, you never know."
