Tom Phillips (Australian footballer)


Tom Phillips is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League.

Early life

Phillips grew up in Melbourne and attended Caulfield Grammar School, where he played Australian rules football for a year. His father, Anthony, was on Essendon's rookie list while his uncle, Andrew Phillips played 42 games for Carlton. His younger brother Ed Phillips plays for St Kilda.

State football

Phillips played for the Oakleigh Chargers in the TAC Cup, appearing in 12 games and winning a premiership with them in the 2014 season. The next season he returned as an overage player, making the most of his final year in the development league. He kicked 23 goals in 16 games and selected as one of the best players half the time. In the Grand Final he tallied 18 disposals and kicked two goals to help them claim back-to-back premierships. In 2015, Phillips spent time with Victorian Football League club Port Melbourne, collecting 20 disposals and laying six tackles against Collingwood, the club which would draft him to the Australian Football League.

AFL career

After being overlooked in the 2014 national draft, Phillips was drafted by Collingwood with their 2nd pick of the 2015 national draft, which was the 58th pick overall. He impressed in pre-season during the annual time-trial beating "time-trial king" Steele Sidebottom. He made his debut for Collingwood in round 12 of the 2016, against Melbourne in the Queen's Birthday clash. Two rounds later, he scored his first goal, against Fremantle. Phillips was named the AFL Rising Star nominee for round 9 of the 2017 season, after gathering 24 disposals in Collingwood's comeback win over Hawthorn at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. In the 2018 season, Phillips was selected by the AFL Players Association for the 22 Under 22 team.

Statistics

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2016
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2017
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2018
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2019
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2020
! colspan=3| Career
! 75
! 39
! 29
! 1038
! 692
! 1730
! 396
! 186
! 0.5
! 0.4
! 13.8
! 9.2
! 23.1
! 5.3
! 2.5