It all started with a curious newspaper interview.
Speaking to the Herald Sun this week, Essendon forward Jake Stringer told the publication he hoped his two young daughters, Milla and Arlo, would be on hand when he plays his 100th AFL game on Saturday night.
“My kids Milla and Arlo… haven’t been able to watch me play this year, so fingers crossed, I can run out with them on Saturday night, and have a very special moment with them,” he said.
“That is something that hopefully will get done and hopefully I can enjoy it with them.”
Jake, 24, continued, saying it was “pretty likely” his daughters would be there to help him celebrate the milestone.
“They are my whole world, so having them there and to be able to run out with them, and give them a hug and a kiss and to be able to spend time with them after the game will be good,” he added.
But according to his ex, Abby Gilmore, Jake knows full well that his daughters won’t be attending the football match on Saturday – and that the interview was an intentional attempt to make the mother of his children look bad – because that day daughter Arlo is having a party to celebrate her second birthday.
It isn’t the first time the couple – who split in 2016 after Stringer was allegedly caught having an affair with a schoolgirl – has had a public falling out. The highs and lows of their co-parenting have, in spurts, played out in the media.