{"id":424726,"date":"2026-01-20T04:37:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T04:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/424726\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T04:37:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T04:37:21","slug":"afl-great-to-fight-serious-assault-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/424726\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL great to fight serious assault allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tara Cosoleto<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"article-datetime\" class=\"sc-5cbbddda-5 jMFiFd\">January 20, 2026 \u2014 1:22pm<\/p>\n<p>Save<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-d1b14060-4 NcyxX\">You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n<p>Remove items from your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/goodfood\/saved\" class=\"sc-3f16ee48-12 sc-d1b14060-2 kfUMNO cdQiAR\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-369d9219-1 eGTSJh\">Save this article for later<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-369d9219-2 crcSSW\">Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.<\/p>\n<p>Got it<\/p>\n<p>AAA<\/p>\n<p>AFL great Nicky Winmar will fight allegations that he assaulted and intentionally choked a woman.<\/p>\n<p>The former St Kilda star, 60, appeared remotely during a brief hearing in Melbourne Magistrates\u2019 Court on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Former AFL player Nicky Winmar outside the Melbourne Magistrates Court in August 2025. \" aspectratios=\"[object Object]\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/f003549ea8809d36548fd039a21aab828bb39e62.jpeg\"  class=\"sc-d2942506-1 wgbit\"\/>Former AFL player Nicky Winmar outside the Melbourne Magistrates Court in August 2025. AAP<\/p>\n<p>Winmar, whose legal first name is Neil, was in July charged with committing two assaults and intentionally choking, \u201cstrangling or suffocating\u201d a woman.<\/p>\n<p>All three incidents allegedly occurred in Melbourne on July 18, 2025, charge sheets state.<\/p>\n<p>Related Article<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/national\/victoria\/afl-great-nicky-winmar-accused-of-dragging-woman-by-the-hair-20250911-p5mubk.html\" tabindex=\"-1\" class=\"sc-cba76dee-0 hLTVHY\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Former AFL player Nicky Winmar has been accused of dragging a woman by her hair.\" aspectratios=\"[object Object]\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/f003549ea8809d36548fd039a21aab828bb39e62.jpeg\"  class=\"sc-d2942506-1 ffXaNQ\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors previously indicated they were seeking to join the case with separate charges that Winmar is <a class=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/national\/victoria\/afl-great-nicky-winmar-accused-of-dragging-woman-by-the-hair-20250911-p5mubk.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">facing in Kerang<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s alleged Winmar twisted a woman\u2019s arm and dragged her by the hair in Cohuna, northwest of Echuca, on May 14, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s unclear from the redacted charge sheets whether there is one alleged victim or multiple alleged victims across the two incidents.<\/p>\n<p>Winmar\u2019s barrister Dermot Dann, KC, told the court on Tuesday that prosecutors were no longer seeking to have the two cases heard together.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the two sets of charges will be dealt with separately in Melbourne and Kerang.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Dann said the Melbourne charges could not be resolved and Winmar was seeking to fight the \u201cserious\u201d allegations in a contested hearing.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"AFL legend Nicky Winmar.\" aspectratios=\"[object Object]\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/83ca50d96119e842bf5fe93fefb47afa77899b00.jpeg\"  class=\"sc-d2942506-1 wgbit\"\/>AFL legend Nicky Winmar.Justin McManus<\/p>\n<p>The barrister indicated the facts of the case were disputed.<\/p>\n<p>Magistrate Kieran Gilligan adjourned the case to a one-day hearing at Melbourne Magistrates Court on August 11.<\/p>\n<p>Winmar, who did not speak during the brief hearing, had his bail extended to that date.<\/p>\n<p>He is separately due to face Kerang Magistrates\u2019 Court on January 29 over the Cohuna offending.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"St Kilda player Nicky Winmar points to his skin in response to a racist taunt from the crowd in 1993.\" aspectratios=\"[object Object]\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/66f469c7b16a88c07ab8a79a449f8fc0d9fdd16d.jpeg\"  class=\"sc-d2942506-1 wgbit\"\/>St Kilda player Nicky Winmar points to his skin in response to a racist taunt from the crowd in 1993.Wayne Ludbey<\/p>\n<p>Winmar became the first Aboriginal footballer to play 200 games in the league, finishing his career with 230 games at St Kilda and 21 for the Western Bulldogs.<\/p>\n<p>He fought back against several acts of racism throughout his career, including famously standing in front of a Collingwood crowd abusing him in 1993, lifting his jumper and proudly pointing at his skin.<\/p>\n<p>Save<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-d1b14060-4 NcyxX\">You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n<p>Remove items from your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theage.com.au\/goodfood\/saved\" class=\"sc-3f16ee48-12 sc-d1b14060-2 kfUMNO cdQiAR\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n<p>From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tara Cosoleto January 20, 2026 \u2014 1:22pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-424726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}