[10][11] Phillips was also a member of the South Australia under-20 championship team in 2004, where she won the Bob Staunton Award as the most outstanding player in the women's tournament.

[19] Phillips's 2006–07 season ended early after 17 games when she tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee during a collision with Canberra player Tully Bevilaqua.

[18] Phillips decided to join the Sun for the 2006 season despite national team coach Jan Stirling's saying it would hurt her chances of playing in the FIBA World Championship later that year, which was scheduled to begin just a week after the end of the WNBA Finals.

[29] Led by their top scorer Katie Douglas and point guard Lindsay Whalen, the Sun finished the regular season with the best record in the WNBA at 26–8.

[30] With Sales back from injury, Phillips returned to the bench for the playoffs, where the Sun swept the Washington Mystics 2–0 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

She was at risk of losing playing time after the team signed experienced guards Renee Montgomery and Kara Lawson to complement Jēkabsone-Žogota and White.

[29] The Mercury dominated the playoffs, defeating the Los Angeles Sparks, the Minnesota Lynx, and the Chicago Sky to win the WNBA title.

[33] Phillips moved to the Slovak Women's Basketball Extraliga for the 2014–15 season, playing for perennial league champions Good Angels Košice.

At home in Australia, the Opals won the gold medal in the women's basketball event, defeating New Zealand in the final by a lopsided margin.

National team coach Jan Stirling was against her decision, saying, "Erin has made a call which will obviously adversely affect her chances for a world championship berth.

"[18] Nonetheless, Stirling ended up naming Phillips to the national team for the FIBA World Championship for Women in Brazil that September after praising her performance in her first WNBA season.

[81] Despite being unable to play for the Opals in 2007 due to an ACL injury, Phillips was assured a place on the national team in their preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

[84] After the Connecticut Sun could not trade Phillips for the 2010 WNBA season, she instead trained with the national team, winning exhibition tournaments in Hungary during July and in Spain during September.

Nonetheless, Phillips knew she was hurting her chances of making the team by playing the full WNBA season instead of skipping the first half of the year to keep training with the Opals like Lauren Jackson.

[97] Phillips's first WNBA coach Mike Thibault compared her to Women's Basketball Hall of Famer Michele Timms, another Australian point guard.

[105][106] By March 2016, however, Port Adelaide decided not to bid for a licence for 2017 in order to focus on their plan to play the first AFL game in China that same year.

[116] Phillips was awarded best on ground in both games, receiving the maximum three votes that were to be tallied at the end of the season to decide the competition's best and fairest.

[119] Although Adelaide trailed at three-quarter time against Carlton in Round 3, Phillips led her team to victory with the only goal of the final term, which she kicked from a long distance of 60 metres.

[120] Phillips was awarded best on ground for the third and final time during the home-and-away season in Adelaide's Round 4 win,[121] leading the Crows with 18 disposals.

[128][129][130] The inaugural 2017 AFLW Grand Final was a rematch of Adelaide's Round 5 loss to Brisbane, who won the right to host the match as minor premiers.

This time, however, Adelaide squandered a 17-point lead in the second quarter and lost the game after defender Chelsea Randall missed the second half due to a concussion.

Adelaide opened the season with a one-point loss to the Western Bulldogs, the reigning premiers, largely as a result of kicking an inaccurate 1.11 (17).

She also earned one vote in each of her team's next two games,[121] including against Gold Coast when Adelaide scored 85 points, the second-highest total in AFLW history at the time.

Though she reportedly considered retiring from the game, Phillips elected to become Port's first marquee signing ahead of the season, and play for the club her father won eight SANFL premierships with.

[186] Although Phillips is not one of the bigger players in the competition, she is tough and physical – useful traits for taking marks either in the air or after bodying off defenders to establish positioning.

[193] While Phillips does not see herself as a leading advocate for LGBT rights, she has presented her marriage openly and wants to be seen as a role model to others in this respect, in particular to young girls and both male and female athletes.

[196] Phillips's sister Amy is married to Australian rules footballer Shaun Burgoyne, who has played for Port Adelaide and Hawthorn.

[197] Phillips was the Adelaide Lightning's WNBL Ambassador during the 2005–06 season as part of a program to promote the league's athletes as role models.

[19] She has also served as a club ambassador for Port Adelaide, and has participated in their Community Youth program to educate primary school students on physical and mental health.

"[199] Phillips was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2021 Queen's Birthday Honours, for "service to Australian rules football, and to basketball".