PTV: Simon Says
His side was moments away from tasting a bitter defeat, having blown an early three-goal lead and he was preparing for a stay in hospital to have multiple fractures in his jaw repaired.
In the wake of the match the 23-year-old's phone was running hot with people offering their commiserations on the loss and text messages from concerned family and friends who had witnessed the heavy bump from Central's star Ian Callinan that forced him from the ground nursing his jaw.
But there was one message that lifted Phillips' spirits more than any other - a text from Port Adelaide football manager Peter Rohde, saying the club was interested in drafting him.
Rohde, mindful of Phillips' SANFL commitments, refrained from contacting the small forward during the final series and initially thought he'd timed his message on the Sunday afternoon to perfection.
"We intentionally didn't show an interest in Simon all the way through the season. We tend not to do that because you don't want word to get around," Rohde said.
"We needed to get in touch with him quickly, but we didn't want to interrupt his preparation [for the SANFL finals], so I sent him a text at three-quarter time of the grand final.
"I didn't know at the time that he had a broken jaw and was going to be talking to him on the way to hospital on Sunday night."
Rohde followed up the text message with a phone call and then a visit to Phillips' hospital room as he recovered from surgery to repair his jaw.
Rohde and senior coach Matthew Primus only told Phillips of their intention to select him during the AFL exchange period last week, but the wheels on the deal had been in motion for nearly a month.
"We'd made a decision that we wanted Simon on our list and there was a way of being able to do it because Gold Coast was pre-listing 10 players," Rohde said.
"We were concerned that someone else would be talking to Gold Coast about him, so we spoke to [Suns recruiting manager] Scotty Clayton up at the draft camp."
The result of the discussion was that Clayton nominated Phillips as one of Gold Coast's 10 previously listed or previously nominated players and then on-traded him to Port Adelaide along with pick No.35 in exchange for the Power's second-round compensatory pick for losing defender Nathan Krakouer to the Suns.
Rohde said the club was thrilled to secure Phillips in trade week and avoid the possibility of losing him to another potential suitor like cross-town rivals Adelaide in the national or pre-season drafts.
"We would have used a draft pick somewhere along the line to pick Simon in the draft, so this way he can come and start training with us broken jaw and all," he said.
Phillips put on a ventriloquist act for the media on Tuesday, speaking almost without moving his mouth, and will be out of training for another five weeks.
The Victorian-born forward spent two years at the Sydney Swans before being delisted at the end of 2007 and said he was desperate to make the most of his second chance at the AFL.
"The [jaw] injury is a bit of a setback, but they're a professional club here at Port Adelaide and they'll look after me really well," he said.
"I've already got some stuff to look after me for the next few weeks to keep the weight on while I'm sucking life through a straw. I'm just looking forward to getting these wires off and getting back into training."
