A central midfielder, Phillips played for more than a decade with Sydney Olympic in the National Soccer League before joining Brisbane Strikers, winning titles with both clubs.
[1] After working in a coaching capacity for the Asian Football Confederation in Kuala Lumpur, Phillips took over as head coach and technical director of Malaysian Premier League side Sabah FA in December 2009 and guided the team to Super League promotion in 7 months.
[2] After a tough start to life in the Super League as the team was rocked by injury and forced to play eight of their first 12 matches on the road, Phillips was dismissed on 5 May 2011, replaced by former Sabah player and coach of Sabah President's Cup team Justin Ganai.
[5] He coached the Davao Aguilas during the 2017 season until he was replaced midseason in September 2017 by Marlon Maro.
Gary currently is an occasional football pundit on Malaysian television network Astro and its twice weekly FourFourTwo TV Show, and also Fox Sports in Australia.