Milne was told of the decision after training on Wednesday morning. The decision was made in part following recommendations from the club psychologist and senior coach Scott Watters. Stephen Milne. Credit:Getty Images While Milne has maintained his desire to play despite being charged on Tuesday with four counts of rape, the club is understood to have informed the 33-year-old it has chosen to withdraw him. Westaway's statement read: "The board of the St Kilda Football Club met last night following advice that Victoria Police had charged Stephen Milne relating to alleged conduct dating back to 2004.



"The board acknowledges this is a most serious matter, one that is distressing to all the parties involved.



"It also recognises that the extended timeframe of the matter and the complexities of the issues involved, make it without precedent.



"In considering the matter the board has been mindful of the rights and obligations of everyone impacted.



"Based on this the board has resolved that in the best interests of all parties concerned, and the duty of care the Club has to Stephen and his family, Stephen will remain a listed player but will take a leave of absence from playing for an indefinite period.



"The St Kilda Football Club respects that this matter is now before the Courts. As a consequence we won't be making any further comment at this time."

The statement was released on the St Kilda website at 2.30pm. Westaway read the text to journalists at 2.46pm, but did not take any questions. Milne attended training at Seaford this morning closely flanked by team-mates. It is not known whether he had fully accepted the decision. The AFL had handed St Kilda the responsibility for the final call on whether Milne would play following the reconvening of the Saints board on Wednesday morning. The AFLPA and Milne's management reportedly remained uncomfortable with the Saints' call. Saints captain Nick Riewoldt had backed his long-time teammate to play in the round 13 fixture, which marks the 250th games of Riewoldt and Nick Dal Santo.

"I think he should (play)," Riewoldt told SEN Radio. "Milney is the absolute heart and soul of the football club and everyone knows how passionate he is and what the football club in particular means to him. "Given how unique these circumstances are I think personally it’s really up to him if he feels that he can contribute, if he can put it to the side and go out for two hours and perform and he’s stated unequivocally that he’s going to be able to do (that) and he wants to do (that), I think that’s where it should stay." Victoria Police on Tuesday confirmed that Milne had been charged after a review of the initial investigation that was carried out in 2004. Riewoldt said Milne was handling the revelations of the past 24 hours as he had the innuendo that has surrounded him for the past nine years.

"He’s incredibly resilient. Clearly it’s rocked him but he’s a very resilient guy," Riewoldt said. "This has been hanging over his head in one way, shape or form for nine years and to do what he’s done over that period of time on the field is a credit to him and the support he has had from his family. "He’s a very resilient guy but no doubt he’s thinking a lot about it and it’s rocked him." However, Riewoldt said he understood that Milne’s presence in the team could upset people. "Certainly I understand. This is a difficult time for everyone," he said. "As a close mate of Milney’s obviously we see what he goes through (but) there’s other parties involved that it’s going to be equally difficult for.

"I understand that some people will disagree (Milne playing) and that’s just the nature of people’s opinions I guess." Assistant Commissioner (Crime) Stephen Fontana admitted to 3AW Wednesday morning that police had "let everyone down" with the initial handling of the case. An Office of Police Integrity report into the case recommended a review of the investigation and a decision to lay charges followed the extensive review by specialist detectives in the sexual crimes squad. Fontana said the review had uncovered flaws in the initial investigation that showed it was so "inadequate" that he had been moved to apologise to the alleged victim for the drawn-out case. "When the sex crimes squad went through the brief they found a lot of gaps or a lot of things that needed to be done and as they started to pull it together they said ‘we need to look more closely at this’ ... and after consultation with the Office of Public Prosecution a decision has been made to lay charges," Fontana said.

He said it was yet to be determined whether the initial investigation in 2004, which was handled by detectives from Brighton criminal investigation unit, was faulty because of "incompetence or otherwise". "Whether there was influence or pressure that’s hard to say at this stage but certainly we had some concerns when we reviewed the brief. Loading "... I really couldn’t say why this had happened. It’s really disappointing as an experienced investigator myself. I’m pretty disappointed when I look at the quality of some of these files. It’s really disheartening." Milne’s teammate Leigh Montagna was also investigated in 2004 over the incident, but Fontana said that police "were not expecting to lay any other charges".