AFL great Nicky Winmar to fight serious assault allegations

1 month ago 12

By Tara Cosoleto

January 20, 2026 — 1.22pm

AFL great Nicky Winmar will fight allegations that he assaulted and intentionally choked a woman.

The former St Kilda star, 60, appeared remotely during a brief hearing in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday morning.

Former AFL player Nicky Winmar outside the Melbourne Magistrates Court in August 2025.

Winmar, whose legal first name is Neil, was in July charged with committing two assaults and intentionally choking, “strangling or suffocating” a woman.

All three incidents allegedly occurred in Melbourne on July 18, 2025, charge sheets state.

Prosecutors previously indicated they were seeking to join the case with separate charges that Winmar is facing in Kerang.

It’s alleged Winmar twisted a woman’s arm and dragged her by the hair in Cohuna, northwest of Echuca, on May 14, 2025.

It’s unclear from the redacted charge sheets whether there is one alleged victim or multiple alleged victims across the two incidents.

Winmar’s barrister Dermot Dann, KC, told the court on Tuesday that prosecutors were no longer seeking to have the two cases heard together.

Instead, the two sets of charges will be dealt with separately in Melbourne and Kerang.

Mr Dann said the Melbourne charges could not be resolved and Winmar was seeking to fight the “serious” allegations in a contested hearing.

The barrister indicated the facts of the case were disputed.

Magistrate Kieran Gilligan adjourned the case to a one-day hearing at Melbourne Magistrates Court on August 11.

Winmar, who did not speak during the brief hearing, had his bail extended to that date.

He is separately due to face Kerang Magistrates’ Court on January 29 over the Cohuna offending.

St Kilda player Nicky Winmar points to his skin in response to a racist taunt from the crowd in 1993.

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.

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.