Nicky Winmar: AFL great guilty of smashing woman's head
Former St Kilda footballer Nicky Winmar will be sentenced at a later date after being found guilty of attacking a woman.
West Australian football great Nicky Winmar has been found guilty of dragging a woman by the hair and smashing her head against a door.
The St Kilda star, who was inducted into WA Football’s hall of Fame in 2009 and the AFL Hall of fame in 2022, argued the woman lied about the attack but Bendigo Magistrate Trieu Huynh on Friday found she was being truthful and convicted him of three charges.
The woman, who cannot be identified, alleged Winmar attacked her at Cohuna in northern Victoria on May 14, 2025.
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The woman also accused Winmar of pushing her against a wall, spitting and yelling in her face, and then bashing her head repeatedly into a wooden door.
Winmar admitted he slapped the woman’s arm above the elbow but denied throwing any punches or making her tumble.
He claimed she was the one who punched him five or six times to the face area.
Mr Huynh found the woman was a credible and truthful witness who was honest in her evidence about the attack.
The magistrate convicted Winmar of two charges of common law assault and one count of unlawful assault.
The charges related to the allegations Winmar grabbed the woman by the arm, dragged her by the hair and hit her head against a door.
Winmar was acquitted on the fourth charge of intentionally causing injury, with Mr Huynh finding the woman’s “substantial pain” fell short of the sort of injury required for the charge.
Winmar, who appeared in the Bendigo court in person, dropped his head into his hands after the magistrate handed down his decision.
He will face a pre-sentence hearing at a later date.
Winmar became the first Aboriginal footballer to play 200 games in the AFL, finishing his career with 230 games at St Kilda and 21 for the Western Bulldogs.
He also played 58 WAFL games for South Fremantle, and was celebrated with a crowd-funded statue that still stands outside Optus Stadium.
Unveiled by former Premier Mark McGowan and AFL boss Gillon McLachlan in 2019, the statue depicts the famous moment Winmar lifted his jersey and pointed to his skin
He fought back against racism in his career, including standing in front of an abusive Collingwood crowd in 1993, lifting his jumper and proudly pointing at his skin in what became a defining moment in the AFL’s battle against racism.
Winmar is also co-leading a landmark racism class action against the AFL in the Victorian Supreme Court.
