Collingwood skipper Nick Maxwell is confident Andrew Krakouer will return to the AFL.

Krakouer was granted four weeks’ leave by the club on Friday to deal with “personal issues”.

Maxwell backed the Magpies’ decision to grant leave to the 29-year-old, who was jailed for 16 months in 2008 for assault.

But he was confident Krakouer’s absence would be a temporary one, and he would be back with the grand finalists as soon as he was ready.

“Krak’s is going through some personal issues and as a club, we want to support him as much as possible,” Maxwell said.

“The player group is fully supportive of that.

“He’s a great person, he’s added a lot to our footy club in the past 12 months and we’re going to make sure he looks after himself off the field … and we’ll welcome him back with open arms when he tells us he’s ready to come back.”

Maxwell and his team-mates took part in a charity run in Melbourne on Saturday to raise funds and awareness for Friedreich Ataxia, a fatal degenerative, neurological disease.

The players ran well within themselves, and even injured duo Alan Didak and Ben Johnson completed the course – walking their 3.8km lap of The Tan track in inner Melbourne.