The court will retain pictures showing St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt and players Nick Dal Santo and Zac Dawson in various states of undress on a USB stick as the case between the club and the girl continues.

Justice Shane Marshall today ordered the case to go to mediation before January 28. He said he had formed the view that the photos had been taken by Sam Gilbert.

The club maintains Gilbert took the photos on a trip to Miami last year while the teenager claims she took them herself in a Melbourne hotel, downloaded them to Gilbert’s computer, then sent them to herself.

When the case continues, counsel for Gilbert will ask the court to order that all images and other content allegedly taken from his computer be destroyed.

If Gilbert’s damages case is not resolved at mediation, the matter will go to trial.

St Kilda vice-president Ross Levin said after the hearing the teenager left the Saints no choice but to take legal action after the club and the girl’s parents had pleaded with her for weeks not to release the photos.

The teenager appeared in court after flying in from the Gold Coast last night and engaged lawyers two hours before the hearing began this afternoon.

She clutched a large diamante cross pendant and turned around to face numerous reporters several times during the hearing. The words ‘‘success is the best revenge’’ were tattooed on her inner left wrist.

Justice Marshall agreed with an application by the teenager’s lawyer, Tim Bourke, to have her name suppressed. He said that as a father of daughters, he thought the girl needed to be protected as she may regret her current actions in future years.

‘‘The strong concern I have is the first respondent (the teenager) is a child and if the court can’t protect the children, what can it do?’’

Mr Bourke said the teenager was now estranged from her parents and living in temporary accommodation in Melbourne.