St Kilda coach Scott Watters says Stephen Milne’s AFL career is not over and he could be playing in three weeks, despite being charged with rape.
Milne trained with teammates on Friday.
But the forward has been placed on indefinite leave from playing after he was charged this week with four counts of rape relating to an alleged incident in 2004.
Watters says he backs the club’s decision to allow Milne time away from playing, denying the 33-year-old has been stood down.
He says he is confident Milne will resume playing within a month, and perhaps even sooner.
“Stephen will return to play. We’re very hopeful that within three to four weeks, he will be available to come back and do what he loves doing,” Watters said on Friday.
“At the same time, there’s a duty of care and responsibility to Milney. We just need to see how things unfold.
“His return to play is solely based on duty of care … with consultation with the club psychologist and discussions with Steve, we’ll work out the right time to play.
“Hopefully, the timeframe is around the three to four-week mark.”
The AFL’s women’s round – which celebrates the contribution of women to the sport – is next weekend.
Milne will appear in court on July 5, with any committal hearing almost certain to be scheduled beyond the end of this season.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said that meant Milne would probably play again before the case was resolved.
But he said Milne not playing this weekend was appropriate and backed St Kilda’s decision.
“It’s appropriate to have a pause out of respect for everyone involved in the situation, particularly the woman involved,” Demetriou told ABC radio.
“It would have been very difficult, in my view, to have had Stephen Milne run out and play football this week.
“Particularly in light of the fact that this is a very recent, new development that I don’t think many people were expecting.
“It takes the heat out of a lot of the emotion that surrounds this.”
On Saturday, in Milne’s absence, teammates Nick Riewoldt and Nick Dal Santo will celebrate their 250th AFL games against fellow strugglers Melbourne at the MCG.
Both players had said this week they wanted Milne to play in their milestone game.
But Watters denied any suggestion of a player rebellion over the decision to keep Milne from the football field.
He said he was involved in organising for the club’s player leadership group to meet Saints’ board members to discuss the whole issue.
“Open communication in this sort of time is absolutely critical,” Watters said.
“I wouldn’t think a player rebellion involved a coach inviting his leadership group down to make sure everyone’s comfortable and clear on where things are at.
“The ‘player rebellion’ term is almost laughable.”
The Saints have won two of their 11 matches this season and sit 16th – just ahead of Melbourne.
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