AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou says St Kilda risk the Andrew Lovett saga becoming a distraction unless they can resolve it through mediation.

The sacked Saint and his legal team spent Friday with representatives of St Kilda and the AFL in a mediation session chaired by an independent lawyer.

The session, which began at 10am (AEDT) was still underway late on Friday.

Lovett is seeking a payout after his three-year contract worth more than $1 million was terminated by the club last month.

He was traded from Essendon last October, but sacked by the Saints without playing a game.

Dismissal came a day after he was charged with rape, although the club did not cite that charge as a reason.

Lovett had already launched a grievance process against the Saints after they suspended him indefinitely on Christmas Eve, soon after it emerged that he was under police investigation.

Demetriou said it was good that the two parties were attempting to sort out their differences in mediation.

"Any individual is entitled to exercise their rights and hopefully mediation will be the solution because it's good to keep things out of courts," Demetriou told reporters in Perth.

"It's costly and time-consuming and it can distract from what teams and clubs are trying to do.

"Let's see what happens at the mediation and let that process run its course."

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