Stephen Milne

Stephen Milne (born 8 March 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

Milne was recruited to St Kilda from the Essendon reserves and placed on St Kilda's Rookie List after playing for the Dandenong Stingrays and Noble Park Football Club in the late 1990s.

Milne was elevated to St Kilda's primary list from the club's rookie list prior to the start of the 2001 season.

He played his first official AFL game in 2001 against Port Adelaide at Football Park in Round 4.

He scored 2.1 in his first game and had 17 disposals in a losing side.

He was St Kilda's leading goalkicker in 2002, kicking 50 goals from 21 matches in the 2002 AFL Premiership Season.

Milne played in St Kilda's 2004 Wizard Home Loans Cup winning side, the club's second pre-season cup win.

Later in 2004 Milne and teammate Leigh Montagna were at the centre of a police investigation of the alleged rape of a woman.

In the 2005 season, Milne again kicked more than 50 goals.

In the final round of the season, against the Brisbane Lions, he had 15 kicks and kicked a personal best of 11 goals in the Saints' 139-point win.

He finished with 61 goals from 24 matches.

Milne played his 100th AFL game in round three, 2006, against the Brisbane Lions, kicking three goals as the Saints won by 37 points.

Milne played in St Kilda's 2008 NAB Cup winning side, the club's third pre-season cup win.

He kicked three of St Kilda' nine goals in the final.

In 2008, during a game against Fremantle at Subiaco, he kicked three goals after a head clash.

He was driven back from Perth with St Kilda medical staff to avoid the risk of further damage and arrived in Melbourne on the Thursday following the game.

Despite this he was named to play in the game on the following Sunday, which was Robert Harvey's tribute game against Adelaide.

He kicked two goals in a 20 possession game.

In the 2008 season, Milne kicked 60 goals from 24 matches.

Milne played in 20 of 22 matches in the 2009 home and away rounds in which St Kilda qualified in first position for the 2009 AFL Finals Series, winning the club's third minor premiership.

St Kilda qualified for the 2009 AFL Grand Final after its qualifying and preliminary finals wins.

Milne played in the grand final when St Kilda were defeated by Geelong by 12 points.

No charges were laid; however, in June 2010 a former detective who was the lead detective in the case made claims that the case collapsed under internal pressure from within the Victorian police force and powerful club backers as well as another detective alleging the cost of the case was a factor.

On 9 April 2010, St Kilda played Collingwood in a Round 3 match.

During the quarter time break, words were exchanged between Milne and the Collingwood coach, Mick Malthouse, the focus of which in the media was an alleged comment Malthouse made calling Milne a 'rapist'.

In a statement released by Collingwood, Malthouse apologised for his comments for which he was also fined $7500 by the AFL.

Milne also stated that some comments he made to an opposition coach were inappropriate.

Under coach Ross Lyon, he has continued to develop his forward defensive skills and setting up play in addition to his ability to score goals.

Milne kicked his 400th career goal on 4 June 2010, in Round 11 against Richmond, scoring five goals for the game.

Mine played his 200th game the following week on 13 June 2010, in Round 12 against Fremantle, scoring four goals for the game.

He received three Goal of the Year nominations in 2010 in Rounds 5, 11 and 12.

St Kilda qualified for the 2010 AFL finals series in third position and won through to the 2010 Grand Final after wins over Geelong in the qualifying finals and Western Bulldogs in the preliminary finals.

Milne played in the drawn 2010 AFL Grand Final, in which he kicked two of St Kilda ten goals for the game against Collingwood.

He was involved in the game's pivotal moment: St Kilda was trailing by one point with 90 seconds remaining, a 60m running shot by Lenny Hayes landed 10m in front of the right behind post and in the vicinity of Milne and his opponent; the ball took one bounce 45° left toward the goal, then another bounce 90° right and went through for the tying behind, eluding Milne's efforts to gather the unpredictable ball.

Some retrospective views of the match have criticised Milne for allowing the ball to bounce rather than attacking the ball harder, although whether this would even have been possible is debatable.

St Kilda ended up losing the grand final replay the following week.

He was St Kilda's leading goalkicker in 2010 with 55 goals for the season prior to the 2010 AFL Grand Final Replay.

In St Kilda's Round 21 home game against the Magpies, Milne became the first player in the history of the league to kick 300 goals at Docklands Stadium.

In 2012 the Office of Police Integrity concluded after a lengthy investigation that "the OPI investigators found no evidence to substantiate the allegation that police investigating the rape were subject to improper influence" On 18 June 2013 it was reported that Milne had been charged with four counts of rape over the 2004 incident.

A small forward, he held the record for the most games played by a player originally drafted via the Rookie Draft, however this was surpassed by the West Coast Eagles' Dean Cox in early 2014.