Former AFL player Stephen Milne will face trial charged with raping a woman at a teammate's house after a drunken night out more than nine years ago.
The 33-year-old has been dogged by the case since 2004, when the woman came forward with her allegations.
He will face a jury next year after a magistrate on Friday found there was enough evidence to send him to trial on three of four rape charges.
Milne, who attended the four-day committal hearing with his wife by his side, showed no reaction to the development.
He said four words: "Not guilty, your honour."
Prosecutors allege Milne repeatedly tried to have sex with a 19-year-old woman in March 2004, despite her saying no to his advances.
The Melbourne Magistrates Court heard Milne and his former St Kilda teammate Leigh Montagna had been drinking before meeting up with two women and taking them back to Mr Montagna's home.
The alleged victim had consensual sex with Mr Montagna while her friend had consensual sex with Milne.
Later that night, all four ended up naked on the same bed.
The alleged victim began kissing Milne, mistakenly believing it was Mr Montagna, and only realised who she was with when the bedroom door was opened, the court heard.
She was also heard saying "no" and "stop it" before she left the room and told her friend she had been raped.
Her friend, who can't be identified, testified that the alleged victim was hysterical and felt she'd been treated like a "footy slut".
The court heard the two players had no plan to swap partners - it just happened.
Mr Montagna testified that he thought "it was all very friendly" that night and nobody was forced into doing anything they didn't want to do.
Both women said it was very dark in the bedroom, but Mr Montagna said he had no trouble seeing everyone and couldn't understand how the alleged victim mistook Milne for him.
Police later checked the lighting in the room, with at least one detective finding the lighting appeared to be sufficient to make out someone's features.
Charges were laid this June after a police review found the initial investigation nine years ago was inadequate.
Milne's defence team spent days criticising the work of the initial investigation, headed up by former detective Scott Gladman.
One of Mr Gladman's former colleagues told court he believed the officer became "quite flirty" with the alleged victim during the investigation.
"I thought he had an inappropriate relationship with her," Detective Senior Constable Steven Cornwill told the court on Friday.
Earlier in the committal hearing, Mr Gladman rejected that he had any bias or had ignored key evidence that tended to exonerate Milne and favour the alleged victim.
"Absolute and total rubbish," he said.
The court heard very little was added to the police brief in 2012 when the file was reviewed and police decided to proceed with charging Milne after the near-decade delay.
The trial is expected in August next year, after a directions hearing on December 10.
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