Essendon player Jaxon Prior engaged to girlfriend Bronte Thompson weeks after rival team’s jab

Essendon footballer Jaxon Prior and partner Bronte Thompson are engaged, just weeks after being embroiled in a rival team’s ‘whiteboard scandal’.

Thompson was unexpectedly drawn into the AFL drama when a photo of a whiteboard listing strengths and weaknesses of Essendon players in the Brisbane Lions′ training facility leaked last month.

Next to Prior’s name, his only listed strength was “Bronte”.

Thankfully, the controversy seemed to have no impact on the couple, who announced their engagement this week.

“We’re getting married! 14.06.26,” they celebrated alongside photos from Prior’s proposal at winery hotel Jackalope Mornington Peninsula.

Essendon showed support too, posting a “huge congratulations” to the pair.

“A very exciting bye week for Jacko & Bronte,” the club said.

Read more

Front Row: The ‘Hollywood’ event that was anything but and Karl speaks out on Kyle at ARN shindig

The couple first met in a bar, coincidentally after Prior, 25, had unsuccessfully tried to get Thompson’s attention through Instagram DMs.

Prior was playing for the Lions at the time, as he did until requesting a trade to Essendon at the end of 2024.

His former teammate and Brisbane co-captain Hugh McCluggage said it was wrong to involve Thompson on the whiteboard.

“If we had our time again we wouldn’t have involved his partner in it – it’s as simple as that,” the Brisbane star told reporters after the leak.

“But things stand in a really good place. I’ve called him and have spoken to him about his partner as well, and we’ll leave it at that out of respect for the two of them.”

Prior is not the only Essendon player to pop the question during the Melbourne-based team’s bye week.

Teammate Xavier Duursma and his partner, Alicia Parker, also announced their engagement during a trip to Margaret River.