Troubled Richmond Tigers young gun Sydney Stack is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to violating Western Australia’s COVID-19 regulations.
The 20-year-old spent three weeks in prison following his December 20 arrest for his involvement in a Northbridge brawl, which alerted police to his breach of the state’s strict COVID-19 quarantine protocols.
Stack, who appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday, was granted permission to enter WA from South Australia to attend his grandfather’s funeral in December.
As a condition of entry, the Tigers rising star was required to complete a 14-day quarantine period in the suburb of Northam.
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But the third-year AFL player spent Christmas behind bars after he was discovered partying in Northbridge, in violation of his quarantine requirements.
Stack, who had his bail extended on Wednesday, burst onto the AFL stage when he finished third in the 2019 NAB AFL Rising Star race after he was taken by the Tigers in the pre-season supplementary draft.
He kicked 10 goals in 17 games during a breakout 2019 season but managed just nine senior appearances in a tumultuous 2020 campaign.
Stack’s second AFL season ended in disgrace after he and Tigers team-mate Callum Coleman-Jones were involved in a fight on the Gold Coast in September.
They were each banned for 10 games by the Tigers for their actions, which included breaching the club’s COVID-19 bubble.
Richmond officials have yet to comment on Stack’s guilty plea and his future with the club.
The reigning AFL premiers are scheduled to open their 2021 season against Carlton on Thursday, March 18 at the MCG.
