GLENELG Football Club coach Nick Stevens has been sacked, and he now faces a prison sentence after he was found guilty of assaulting his former partner and threatening to kill her.

Instead of immediately sacking the former Port Power and Carlton AFL player after the court verdict on Thursday, Glenelg’s board chose to meet in secret away from the club to discuss his future.

OPINION: Glenelg should have just sacked him immediately

More: Nick Stevens’ ex tells of drugs, booze and violence

Stevens served only one year of a two-year deal believed to be worth $100,000 a season.

Before the meeting, Tigers chairman Nick Chigwidden said the board needed to process the information before making decisions in the best interests of the club.

In a later statement, Glenelg said it was a family-based community club and “we do not condone or tolerate domestic violence in any form”. The club appointed assistant coach Matthew Lokan as his replacement.

A Melbourne court found Stevens guilty of 12 charges, including two counts of intentionally causing injury and five of assault.

He was also found guilty of screaming two threats to kill and a threat to cause serious injury as he beat the woman during an attack at their rural Traralgon home on February 10, 2013.

The victim told the court Stevens had grabbed her neck and pushed it towards a kitchen bench, and then slammed her head repeatedly against tiles on the kitchen wall.

“He said, ‘I’m going to kill you’. “He said, ‘I’m going to beat you to within an inch of your life’,” she said.

Stevens will be sentenced in March.

SA Commissioner for Victims’ Rights Michael O’Connell said Stevens “must be called to account for his crimes”.

“The court did not believe Nick Stevens respected his former partner, indeed, the court found him guilty on 12 counts of violence against the victim,” he said.

Central Domestic Violence Service executive director Maria Hagias said the club had to sack Stevens in order to send a “clear message”.

SANFL chief executive Jake Parkinson released a statement yesterday condemning violence against women.

“The SANFL works tirelessly to promote and foster a strong, family orientated culture and we therefore condemn any form of violence against women,’’ he said.

Stevens played 127 games for the Power before quitting the club to join Carlton in 2004.

He coached the Gippsland Power in the under 18 TAC Cup for two years before signing with Glenelg.

During evidence Stevens’ former partner told the court the footballer had slammed her head against a kitchen wall, then threatened to kill her and her father during the attack.

She said: “He said, ‘I’m going to kill you’. He said, ‘I’m going to beat you to within an inch of your life’.

“I was on the floor and I thought, ‘Is this the day he’s going to kill me?’”

He was also convicted of a threat to cause serious injury during the Traralgon attack.

The Ringwood Magistrates Court found that the former Carlton star had assaulted his partner on three occasions over the course of their 18-month relationship.

Magistrate Nunzio La Rosa found Stevens also inflicted injuries on the woman during an attack at her parents’ Park Orchids home on April 27.

The woman said Stevens had slammed her head against the outside brick wall while he yelled “stop headbutting the wall you idiot”.

Stevens was also convicted of kicking his partner in the arm after they had an argument in December 2012 about his infidelity.

During the argument he gave the woman his phone to go through his messages, he then pushed it out of her hand and kicked her in the forearm.

He was also convicted of criminal damage after he threw her phone on the ground during an argument.

The court heard text messages from the woman and Stevens when she told him her parents were on the phone during one of the attacks.

Stevens replied that he was embarrassed that her parents would think he had assaulted her.

She texted: “I didn’t need to tell them you punched me because they were on the phone and they saw my face.”

Mr La Rosa said the text message was a direct allegation of assault which he did not deny.

He said both her parents and an ex-boyfriend whom she called during the assault gave evidence consistent with the victim’s version of events.

During evidence Stevens claimed his “vindictive ex-girlfriend” had made up the allegations in an attempt to ruin his burgeoning coaching career. He also claimed she had faked injuries to back up her story.

But Mr La Rosa said he was satisfied the complainant was a truthful witness and dismissed Steven’s claims she had faked injuries.

"I was impressed with the complainant and the manner in which she gave her evidence," Mr La Rosa said.

Another 19 charges of assault, criminal damage and making threats were dismissed or struck out by the magistrate.