He'd just watched video footage of a rabbit well and truly alive as Stuart Mills tethered it to a lure for a race-ready greyhound.

It was still alive moments later, despite being locked in the dog's jaws.

After the second lap, there was no movement.

The magistrate told the RSPCA prosecutor there was no need to play the remaining videos to Frankston Magistrates Court.

"You've created the requisite grimness," Mr Crisp said.

The covertly recorded vision that formed the RSPCA case against 14 Victorian greyhound trainers prompted outrage when broadcast on the ABC's Four Corners last year.

Mills, father Anthony and fellow trainer Darren McDonald received death threats and menacing phone calls, and were forced to move homes, their lawyers told the court on Thursday.

Stuart Mills, 40, pleaded guilty to 12 offences including keeping a premises for the purpose of live baiting, and aggravated cruelty to animals.

Anthony Mills, 74, a trainer once awarded the highest honour in the greyhound industry (but since stripped of that accolade), pleaded guilty to two animal cruelty charges.

McDonald, 47, a former Australian trainer of the year, admitted to one charge.

Defence counsel Belinda Franjic said Stuart Mills had sold his Tooradin training track at a $150,000 loss, lost his career and reputation and been abused since the scandal broke.

"He has been punished many times over for this conduct in ways that have affected every part of his life," Ms Franjic said.

The magistrate was having none of it, replying that it was "a bit of a cop-out" to claim Mills was the victim given animal-cruelty offences evoked strong public reactions.

"There are certain crimes that attract public outpouring: mass murder, cruelty to animals, child pornography ... It's not something I am really attracted to in sentencing," Mr Crisp said.

Mr Crisp said people should be rightly appalled at conduct he described as "repugnant".

"They cannot be victims in their own right, they may not claim that," he said.

The men faced penalties of up two years in jail, but Mr Crisp said prison was a last resort and ordered Anthony and Stuart Mills perform 150 hours of unpaid community service.

McDonald was put on a two-year good behaviour bond given his Parkinson's disease and other health problems.

The trio were also disqualified from training greyhounds for five years, on top of the long disciplinary bans imposed by Greyhound Racing Victoria.

Prosecutor Ron Gipps said Animals Australia investigators filmed Stuart Mills three times between November 2014 and January last year using live rabbits — and on one occasion a piglet — to excite greyhounds before the animals were attached to lures.

Anthony Mills and McDonald were identified on one occasion each, Mr Gipps said.

The magistrate questioned why trainers needed live animals to bait greyhounds.

"The image of this industry has taken a battering, and if I may say so, correctly so," he said.

Outside court, RSPCA inspector Daniel Bode described the footage as "shocking" and said he was pleased the court had held the men to account.

The next group of trainers are due in court next week.

One of them, Lawrence Cunningham, failed to appear on Thursday because he was unwell. Mr Crisp said that excuse "looks a bit dubious" and said Cunningham should be arrested if he failed to appear next week.