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Nicky Winmar’s statue has been removed from out the front of Perth’s Optus Stadium days after the disgraced AFL great was found guilty of assaulting a woman in northern Victoria last year.
Winmar – who played 230 games at St Kilda and 21 for the Western Bulldogs after beginning his football career at South Fremantle in the WAFL – had argued the woman lied about the attack, but a magistrate disagreed and convicted him of three charges.
The 60-year-old was accused of dragging the woman by her hair, pushing her into a wall, spitting and yelling at her, and smashing her head repeatedly against a door at a property in Cohuna in May 2025.
He was convicted of two charges of common law assault and one count of unlawful assault, but acquitted of a fourth charge of intentionally causing injury.
During his trial, Winmar had admitted to slapping the woman’s arm, but denied hitting her, instead claiming she had punched him around the face.
Bendigo magistrate Trieu Huynh found the woman, who cannot be named, to be a credible and honest witness.
A statue of the Aboriginal player’s famous response to racist abuse while playing Collingwood in 1993 was erected outside Optus Stadium in 2019.
The crowdfunded statue, modelled on the iconic photo taken by Wayne Ludbey, was unveiled ahead of a Western Derby between Fremantle and West Coast in July that year.
At the time, then-premier Mark McGowan said the statue brought a “great sense of pride”, and was a “fitting tribute to one of the greats of the game”.
However, early on Sunday, nearly seven years to the day since it was unveiled, crews arrived to remove it in the wake of Winmar’s conviction.
The area was cordoned off before the sun had even come up, with a crane and forklift used to hoist it out of its footing between Optus Stadium and the Swan River, before it was taken away.
All that remains is a square hole in the turf and a spotlight shining where the statue once was. A spokesperson for VenuesWest, the government body that manages Optus Stadium, said the statue would be securely stored while its future was being considered.
WA minister John Carey, speaking to media on Sunday, said the statue’s removal sent a clear message that the state would not recognise people who had been found guilty of violence against women.
“This was violence. It is unacceptable. [Winmar] has been found guilty. It’s pretty clear-cut. I’m not interested in other excuses, [removing the statue] is a clear message,” Carey said.
However, Carey sidestepped questions on what would happen if Winmar successfully appealed his conviction.
On Friday, in the immediate aftermath of Winmar’s conviction, WA Premier Roger Cook said violence against women was never acceptable, and it was “important we send a strong message to the community”.
“Following Nicky Winmar’s conviction, I’m of the firm view that it is no longer appropriate for that statue to be displayed,” he said.
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