IN a new exciting collaborative countdown, Rookie Me Central has teamed up with other independent media organisations to bring a 2022 AFL Women’s Top 50 Countdown. Every weekday from now until December 17, a new player will be named starting from 50th down to 1st, stemming from a combined eight Top 50 submissions. Among those who submitted Top 50s include Siren Sport‘s Gemma Bastiani, Women’s Australian Rules Football (WARF) Radio‘s Peter Holden, and a combined Outer Sanctum team’s Top 50.

Today we continue our countdown with number 11, Adelaide Women’s Erin Phillips.

An absolute legend of the league, many may have forgotten Phillips began her AFLW career as a cross-coder rookie in 2017.

Despite her low-key start, her big game experience and leadership was rewarded from the get-go, named as one of Adelaide’s co captains in that inaugural season. She did step down from the captaincy role after the 2020 season though.

If you listed everything that Phillips has achieved in her career, that would be quite the essay.

She is a three time All-Australian, even named as skipper of the 2019 side. She was instrumental in the Crows’ inaugural flag in 2017, and despite being brought down by an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury in the 2019 decider still greatly helped her team nab their second title in the space of only three years.

Although she was only able to play two games in 2020 on her way back from that knee injury, she came back to her best in 2021. She played every game and earned her third All-Australian jacket as she helped guide Adelaide to their third Grand Final.

In terms of this countdown, everyone agreed Phillips was worthy a spot in their top 50. Some ranked her as high as fourth, while others had her as low as 28th.

ROOKIE ME CENTRAL’S 2022 AFL WOMEN’S TOP 50

#50 Ash Brazill (Collingwood) | ARTICLE
#49 Tayla Harris (Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#48 Courtney Hodder (Brisbane) | ARTICLE
#47 Eden Zanker (Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#46 Kirsty Lamb (Western Bulldogs) | ARTICLE
#45 Tyanna Smith (St Kilda) | ARTICLE
#44 Breanna Koenen (Brisbane) | ARTICLE
#43 Dana Hooker (West Coast) | ARTICLE
#42 Georgie Prespakis (Geelong) | ARTICLE
#41 Breann Moody (Carlton) | ARTICLE
#40 Hayley Miller (Fremantle) | ARTICLE
#39 Emma King (North Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#38 Dakota Davidson (Brisbane) | ARTICLE
#37 Meghan McDonald (Geelong) | ARTICLE
#36 Stacey Livingstone (Collingwood) | ARTICLE
#35 Daisy Pearce (Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#34 Rebecca Beeson (GWS) | ARTICLE
#33 Sarah Allan (Adelaide) | ARTICLE
#32 Kerryn Harrington (Carlton) | ARTICLE
#31 Janelle Cuthbertson (Fremantle) | ARTICLE
#30 Emily Bates (Brisbane) | ARTICLE
#29 Katie Brennan (Richmond) | ARTICLE
#28 Gemma Houghton (Fremantle) | ARTICLE
#27 Kate Hore (Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#26 Ellie McKenzie (Richmond) | ARTICLE
#25 Ruby Schleicher (Collingwood) | ARTICLE
#24 Ash Riddell (North Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#23 Ally Anderson (Brisbane) | ARTICLE
#22 Brittany Bonnici (Collingwood) | ARTICLE
#21 Darcy Vescio (Carlton) | ARTICLE
#20 Lauren Pearce (Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#19 Jaimee Lambert (Collingwood) | ARTICLE
#18 Isabel Huntington (Western Bulldogs) | ARTICLE
#17 Tyla Hanks (Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#16 Chelsea Randall (Adelaide) | ARTICLE
#15 Monique Conti (Richmond) | ARTICLE
#14 Kate Lutkins (Brisbane) | ARTICLE
#13 Georgia Patrikios (St Kilda) | ARTICLE
#12 Emma Kearney (North Melbourne) | ARTICLE
#11 Erin Phillips (Adelaide)