Jake Stringer absent from Western Bulldogs best and fairest

THE ugly fallout surrounding Jake Stringer’s pending departure from the Western Bulldogs has continued with the forward a no show at the club’s best and fairest awards last night.

Stringer has returned to social media after shock claims by his former partner. Picture: Quinn Rooney

THE ugly fallout surrounding Jake Stringer’s pending departure from the Western Bulldogs has continued with the forward a no show at the club’s best and fairest awards last night.

Stringer, who looks set to leave the club in coming days, wasn’t sighted as Marcus Bontempelli claimed the Bulldogs top honour.

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It comes as Stringer returned to social media for the first time since shock cheating claims by his former partner.

The exiled Western Bulldog posted a video of himself with young daughter Arlo assembling a chair.

The Instagram post captioned “Arlo helping daddy on the tools” has been viewed about 21,000 times.

Arlo exclaims “I got it” happy to help her dad screw the seat together.

Stringer and his former partner Abby Gilmore are parents to Milla, 3, and baby Arlo.

Abby Gilmore with Milla and Arlo. Picture: Jay Town

Jake Stringer’s career with the Bulldogs is over. Picture: AAP

Stringer’s future has been a constant source of speculation since coach Luke Beveridge last month declared he was likely to be traded from Whitten Oval.

Just days later, Gilmore spoke candidly with the Herald Sun about her decision to split with the footy player revelling details about his alleged affair with a teenage “homewrecker”.

She also revealed his gambling addiction had spiralled out of control.

She took to Instagram the same day the article was published, posting a photo of herself in black with a red-lip, captioned: “You have enemies? Good. That means you stood up for something”.

The post has attracted more than 8600 likes and almost a 1000 comments.

With 104,000 followers, Ms Gilmore has been flooded with support from her followers including:

“Abby, I’ve just got all worked up defending you on some b*llsh*t post to some d*ckhead Stringer fans. My heart broke reading what you went through. I’m so glad you’ve found happiness again,” @janelle.bridge posted.

The Queen of change 👑 #queen https://t.co/AYiToxD7Pn

— Abby Gilmore (@abby_gilmore) June 13, 2017

While the pair split about a year ago, she said he had been having an affair while she was pregnant with their second child.

Gilmore said Stringer’s teammates were disgusted with his behaviour and “they let him know it”.

Stringer’s playing future is unclear as he looks for a new club.

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Stringer’s manager Paul Connors would not be drawn on the issue, saying that was a private matter.

He said the 23-year-old was struggling with the uncertainty surrounding his future.

“I think he is finding the situation incredibly stressful,” he said.

“But they are the things with football.

“He’s 23 years of age. I think he is going to be a better player in the years to come and will learn a lot from this experience.”