Sydney Stack has signed a new contract with the Tigers, less than a year after a Covid-19 breach put him behind bars for three weeks.
Repeat Covid-19 breacher Sydney Stack has signed a new one-year deal with Richmond.
Stack has played 33 senior games for the Tigers but is perhaps best known for his two high-profile Covid-19 breaches, the second of which landed him in jail for three weeks over the Christmas-New Year period.
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Stack admitted his body was “not AFL ready” after his release from prison, but the 21-year-old managed to return to match fitness this season and break back into Damien Hardwick’s 22 in round 17.
He played every game of the regular season thereafter, ending an absence from senior footy that spanned almost a year.
Richmond has also announced towering utility Ben Miller has recommitted to the club on a one-year contract.
“Both Sydney and Ben were able to work their way into the AFL line-up late this season, which should hold them in good stead for 2022,” said Richmond’s general manager of football talent, Blair Hartley.
“We are excited about what they can achieve next year with another pre-season under their belts and look forward to working with them this summer.”
The West Australian Government granted Stack an exemption to enter the state on compassionate grounds last December so he could attend the funeral of a family member.
He had been ordered to complete quarantine at his nominated residence in Northam, roughly 100km east of Perth, but was discovered by police in a suburb of the West Australian capital before his 14 days were up.
He spent Christmas and New Year in custody before his release on January 8 and was later fined $6000.
Prior to his time in jail, Stack was sent home from Queensland, where the majority of the 2020 AFL season was played, after breaching the league’s Covid-19 protocols.
He and fellow Tiger Callum Coleman-Jones were suspended for 10 games each and fined $75,000 between them for leaving Richmond’s biosecurity bubble to attend a Surfers Paradise strip club in September last year. The pair was sent home and did not make their returns to the senior side until midway through the 2021 season.
Coleman-Jones was traded to North Melbourne as part of the 2021 trade period.
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