Adelaide have no doubt many will consider their one-game suspension of star defender Nathan Bock as a joke, Crows chief executive Steven Trigg says.

The Crows on Thursday lifted the indefinite suspension of Bock, who has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend at an Adelaide hotel on April 4.

The All-Australian defender will play against Geelong on Saturday night, and Trigg said a prolonged suspension could have been counter-productive to his rehabilitation.

"I have no doubt there will be plenty of people out there who are saying 'you're joking, it's simply not enough'," Trigg told reporters.

"And I understand that.

"But in the end we have to make a call that has been pitched slightly in favour of understanding our commitment to sending messages versus rehabilitating a human being to make sure that he's right.

"It might make some people feel better, frankly, that we burn him at the stake, I understand that, that is some of the feedback that is invariably going to be received.

"My advice is missing more games doesn't help him at all and missing more games in fact could be counter-productive to his mindset in terms of rehabilitation."

Bock was also fined $5000 by the Crows - the maximum under the AFL code of conduct - and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service, and told to seek anger management and alcohol counselling.

The reigning club champion will appear in court in June and his bail conditions prohibit him from contacting his girlfriend, Carlie Matthews.

But Trigg said that condition would be lifted within days.

"There is definitely a shared desire to get back together, to make it work," Trigg said.

"If that is their desire, and we totally respect that, then the best thing for them is to be back together."

Bock, 26, was showing a "genuine amount of remorse and contrition for what he has done"," Trigg said.

"I am hearing the right things from him about wanting this to never, ever to happen again," he said.

"And if I thought he was flirting with that ... you can stay watching (games). But I see genuine contrition in the player."

The Crows chief also rejected suggestions a novice player in the same situation would have been treated more harshly than the game-breaking defender.

"I would like to think we would treat a yet to debut player the same as an All-Australian," Trigg said.

"There will be cynics out there who will see that differently."

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