Sport Confidential is your wrap of all the footy gossip and banter.
AFL Tribunal member, former umpire and player Jordan Bannister was lucky to escape serious injury after a car crash on the night of last week’s controversial Zak Butters v Nick Foot hearing.
Bannister wasn’t on that case but had been assessing three others with the panel on that eventful night.
He was just 500m from his bayside home at about 9.30pm when a motorist ran a red light and crashed into him at speed. His car was a write off and he was badly shaken.
“I’ve been in accidents before, had concussions and big hip and shoulders, but nothing has ever rattled me like that,’’ Bannister told Sport Confidential.
“The car is gone and I’ve got bad whiplash but it could have been a lot worse. The driver was blaming me but she nearly killed me. I’m glad I had no passengers in the car as they would have been directly hit on that side. The police were fantastic and there were witnesses, so a fine was issued on the spot.”
Bannister, also an AFLW umpire, is in his third year on the tribunal.
He played 67 games for Essendon and Carlton and has two children with wife and TV presenter Natalie Hunter.
“I take the role really seriously and we all do, being an umpire has helped a lot,’’ he said.
On that same night Tribunal member Jason Johnson was criticised for leaving to get to an appointment and having to rejoin the Butters hearing from his car.
Alexandra and Zach Merrett have won over social media by returning to Gimlet, enjoying a date night at the Melbourne CBD venue on Sunday.
It was two weeks ago that Alexandra had the footy world talking when she posted a TikTok having a wine at the upmarket restaurant having walked out of the Bombers match at halftime.
Making light of it now, the couple both posted to social media with Essendon’s former captain having a cheeky drink at a table and tagging Gimlet.
Alexandra posed out the front of the restaurant.
“Icon” and “Queen” were some of the comments left on her post.
“Stop, this is so funny,’’ another wrote.
“Least it wasn’t in the middle of the game,’’ another noted, and one follower wrote: “Gimlet insert was genius.”
Another said they were waiting for someone to have a problem with it.
Alexandra deleted her original Gimlet TikTok after a backlash.
She had captioned a video of herself having a wine at the bar: “When your husband’s team is losing by 50 points at half time so you go to Gimlet instead.” She also wrote ‘whoops’ on it.
Bombers coach Brad Scott said he’d give her a voucher to go again — some wondered if they were dining on the coach’s dime.
Well played Merretts.
Bianca’s sister a Cats fan?
Angelina Censori, the sister of headline maker Bianca Censori who is married to Kanye West, was at the Geelong match on Friday night.
We were curious about her attendance and it appears her dad has Cats connections and she attended with friends.
On Instagram she follows two footballers — Geelong’s Ollie Dempsey and Collingwood’s Isaac Quaynor.
It appears Angelina, who still lives in Melbourne, was well dressed for the cold weather going by the picture she posted.
Bianca’s barely there outfits have long been grabbing global attention.
Baby joy at Collingwood
Collingwood’s Lachie Schultz and fiance Maddie Oberin are expecting their first child.
The couple announced the happy news on social media the day after the Magpies’ narrow win over Carlton.
“Baby boy coming in July,’’ the couple posted.
They were pictured celebrating with their two dogs.
Many of the Collingwood players and WAGs shared their excitement, as did Schultz’s former Fremantle teammate Jordan Clark who also just announced he and his partner are expecting.