Stephen Milne celebrates a goal against West Coast two weeks ago. Source: Getty Images
STEPHEN Milne wants to play this weekend despite being charged yesterday with four counts of rape.
The St Kilda forward trained yesterday and has told the club he wants to play beside great mates Nick Riewoldt and Nick Dal Santo, who will play their 250th games for the Saints on Saturday.
A source close to Milne said the Saints forward was shocked and raw when he was alerted to the charges on Monday.
The source said Milne was in a better head space yesterday and was determined to play against Melbourne at the MCG.
A decision on Milne's immediate future rested with a crisis teleconference last night, which involved the entire Saints board, chief executive Michael Nettlefold, who is In Italy, acting CEO Terry Dillon and head of football Chris Pelchen.
An earlier meeting at the AFL was attended by Milne's management and the AFL Players' Association, and senior AFL staffers including deputy CEO Gil McLachlan and cultural strategy and education manager Sue Clark.
There was no discussion about immediate retirement for Milne.
St Kilda AFL player Stephen Milne has been charged with rape.
It was acknowledged that Milne had copped years of spectator abuse and that if he did play this weekend, he could expect the same.
The AFLPA last night said: "The right to the presumption of innocence is essential to our system of justice and that is important for everyone that Stephen is afforded that basic right.
"The AFLPA will support Stephen in continuing his football commitments as these charges are being dealt with.''
His manager Tom Pretoro refused to comment.
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou yesterday described the charges as "serious'', and said that the league had sought more information from the Saints board, which will be relayed today.
Milne, 33, has played 268 games and kicked 564 goals since making his debut in 2001.
He is out of contract at the end of this season.
Milne is the second St Kilda player to face rape charges in four years.
In 2010, the Saints sacked Andrew Lovett on February 16, a day after he was charged with one count of rape stemming from incident on December 24th, 2009.
The Saints claimed Lovett's sacking came not because of the charge, but because he "engaged in actions that were failures to comply with our standards of expected behavioural conduct''.
The failures related to training commitments and communications with club officials, and the club admitted they could not ignore the "damage being done to St Kilda's reputation".
At the time, the AFL supported the club's decision to sack Lovett. In July 2011, Lovett was found not guilty of rape.
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