COLLINGWOOD defender Marley Williams has told the Magpies he doesn’t want to play again until he faces court in Western Australian in April to be sentenced for assault causing grievous bodily harm.

Williams has flown home to Melbourne from the club’s training camp on the Gold Coast, ruling him out of Sunday’s practice match against the Suns at Metricon Stadium.

H was found guilty last week of the serious assault charge following an incident in his home town of Albany, Western Australia, in 2012.

“At the moment I’m devastated,” he said.

“I’m in a situation I never imagined I would be in and trying to work through the challenges of that while trying to play is something I’m struggling with.

“I made a mistake, and I’m sorry for that. I’ve attempted ever since to do the right thing and the right thing for me, my family, friends and everyone else is to have some time out.

“The strain on my family and the distraction this has created for the club is something I’m not comfortable with.”

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Collingwood says it will continue to support Marley in every way it can, believing that the incident, which left a 29 year-old man with a broken jaw, has had a profound effect on his life.

The club said in a statement that Marley has shown great remorse and accepts responsibility for what he did.

“Collingwood does not condone violence of any description, and does not want to understate what transpired, but over the past 15 months Marley has been an exemplary member of the football club,” the Magpies said.

Williams will continue to train with the Magpies, but if he escapes a jail sentence on April 22, he would not be available until three days later when the Magpies play Essendon in the Anzac Day blockbuster at the MCG in Round 6.

He would have to regain fitness with Collingwood’s VFL team and realistically might not be ready to play in the seniors until the second half of the season.

While there’s speculation that the AFL wanted Collingwood to suspend Williams for possibly the first two games of the home-and-away season, his self-imposed ban because of his mental state will not make it necessary for the club or league to enforce any ban.

His teammate Nick Maxwell confirmed today that Williams had returned to Melbourne “to get his head clear” after being on the club’s training camp to the Gold Coast since Tuesday.

Maxwell said the controversy surrounding Williams, and the fact that the Magpies initially planned to play him on Sunday, had not been a distraction to the group leading into their last practice match.

“Obviously, we know what is going on, but we’ve known it has been going on for about 15 months,” Maxwell said.

“We are supporting Marley fully, but there is a court case to play out, so we can’t go into detail about it.”

Maxwell said Williams had the necessary support from his teammates if he required it, and said the club backed the way he had handled himself since the incident in late 2012.

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“He knew it (the case) was coming up and what was in front of him,” he said.

“(With) the work he has done outside of the football club ... you have just seen a real growth in him.

“Right now, all we can do is support him, because there is obviously a big day coming up in five or six weeks’ time,

“We are basically just telling him that we are there for him. There is not much else we can do.”

While Williams won’t be there on Sunday, one Magpie who will be is important defender Alan Toovey, who will play his first game since suffering a knee reconstruction last year.

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