AFL great Nicky Winmar will fight allegations 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.
Winmar, whose legal first name is Neil, was in July charged with committing two assaults and intentionally choking, ‘strangling or suffocating’ a woman.
The three incidents all allegedly happened in Melbourne on July 18, 2025, charge sheets state.
Prosecutors previously indicated they were seeking to join the case with separate charges Winmar is facing in Kerang, in northern Victoria.
It’s alleged Winmar twisted a woman’s arm and dragged her by the hair in Cohuna, northwest of Echuca, on May 14, 2025.
Nicky Winmar is pictured during his induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. He is now due to fight accusations of choking and assault in court
The St Kilda legend (pictured outside a Melbourne court last year) had a small win when his matter was heard on Tuesday
Winmar is pictured in an iconic photo taken as he hit back at racist fans in 1993
It’s unclear from the redacted charge sheets whether there is one alleged victim or multiple alleged victims across the two incidents.
In a small win for Winmar, his barrister Dermot Dann KC on Tuesday told the court 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 alleged Cohuna offences.
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 a number of 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.
Winmar is co-leading a landmark racism class action against the AFL in the Victorian Supreme Court.
