Sydney Stack


Sydney Stack is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League. He played junior representative football with Perth in the WAFL and represented Western Australia at national championships at under 18 level where he was named All-Australian in 2018. After being undrafted in 2018, Stack was signed by Richmond as a supplemental selection in 2019 and made his AFL debut in round 3, 2019.

Early life and junior football

Stack spent his formative years Northam, Western Australia, a country town 97 kilometres east-northeast of Perth. He had a difficult childhood, with members of his direct family being jailed for criminal offences and suffering from substance abuse issues and mental illness, seeing Stack primarily raised by an aunt from the age of six.
He played junior football at the local Barons and Federals Football Clubs in Northam, and attended high school at Northam Senior High School through the end of year 11 classes. During his late teenage years Stack faced housing uncertainly, spending most of a two year period moving between living with extended family members, friends and his manager. At that time, Stack played Colts football for Perth in the junior ranks of the WAFL including in 2017 where he held averages of 18 disposals per game. Later that year he represented Western Australia at the 2017 2017 AFL Under 18 Championships. Despite being younger than most of those selected, Stack earned a spot in each of the side's four matches at the tournament, kicking two goals. He also traveled to New Zealand as part of a junior Australian team that played the New Zealand national senior team in an exhibition match in April 2017. At the end of the 2017 season Stack played in a under 17s exhibition match at Simonds Stadium in Geelong.
After earning selection to the Western Australian squad competing at the 2018 AFL Under 18 Championships, Stack was left out of the state's round 1 side for missing a compulsory training session the day after getting into a physical altercation over family disputes at a birthday celebration. He spent just one match on the sidelines however, earning a place in the tournaments second round where he was one of the state's best players with 23 disposals and four clearances. In a later match against Vic Country, Stack recorded 22 disposals, thanks largely to a prolific second half performance. At the end of the tournament Stack was named All-Australian after he held an average of 21.3 disposals per match playing as a midfielder.
In 2018 he also played three senior-level WAFL matches for Perth, and while playing at Colts level he received the club best and fairest award and was named in the WAFL Colts Team of the Year.
Despite strong on-field performances that year, Stack had recurring off-field issues that saw him forced out of the AFL Academy and Western Australian state academy for disciplinary reasons.

AFL recruitment

Prior to the 2018 AFL draft Stack was lauded for his ability to apply on-ball pressure, for his composure in traffic and his clean ball use and well as his physical traits of speed and acceleration.
In a late-October mock draft, ESPN predicted Stack to be taken with the 28th pick in the upcoming AFL draft, while in their draft-week predictions, Draft Central and Fox Footy forecast Stack to be selected with the 36th and 53rd overall picks respectively.
Despite those predictions, Stack was ultimately passed on by all 18 AFL clubs at the national and rookie drafts in 2018 due to concerns over his fitness and dedication to training standards.

Junior statistics

Under 18 National Championships
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2017
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2018
! colspan=3| Career
! 7
! 3
! —
! 41
! 65
! 106
! 17
! 19
! 0.4
! —
! 5.9
! 9.3
! 15.1
! 2.4
! 2.7

AFL career

2019 season

In the days following the 2018 draft, Stack was offered a chance to train with under a trial period basis. He moved to Melbourne in December 2018 and temporarily moved in with the family of coach Damien Hardwick. Stack impressed during his trial and in February 2019, was signed by the club under the AFL's newly introduced pre-season supplemental selection rules.
During his first AFL pre-season, Stack trained mostly with Richmond's backline unit after coaches recognised his poor aerobic fitness base that caused him to regularly vomit during running sessions would mean he could not play his natural position as an inside midfielder at AFL level. Over the pre-season he found a focus in improving his aerobic fitness, which club officials highlighted as a key deficiency. He played his first football for the club as a half-back in VFL practice matches in March before being named for a round 3 AFL debut against at Giants Stadium in Sydney. Stack was among Richmond's best players in his debut match, kicking a goal, recording 17 disposals and taking eight marks. He held his spot at AFL level the following week before recording 22 disposals against in round 5 where he was named among Richmond's best players by The Age. Stack gained significant fan and media attention in round 6's ANZAC Day eve win over where he took a spectacular mark that was nominated for the AFL's Mark of the Week and laid a brutal-but-legal bump on Melbourne captain Jack Viney that resulted in a two-week shoulder injury to the receiving Viney. After nine rounds of the season and seven matches AFL matches, Stack ranked fourth in total marks and total intercepts, fifth in effective disposals per game and eight in total rebound 50s among Rising Star eligible players. In round 10's Dreamtime at the 'G Indigenous culture celebration match, Stack participated in the club's pre-game war cry usually performed by non-playing club representatives. The following week he posted a then career-best 24 disposals, five marks and four tackles in a loss to, earning a nomination for the league's Rising Star award. To that point, he ranked number one among Rising Star eligible players for total intercepts, second in total marks and seventh in both total disposals and tackles that season. Stack was named in the AFL Media Team of the Week for round 13 following as loss to in which he recorded 22 disposals. 1116 SEN commentator Kane Cornes labelled Stack one of the biggest 'steals' in draft history following that match and ranked him as the second most promising player from his draft class. At the same time, Stack was ranked number one that season among Rising Star eligible players under Champion Data's AFL player ratings system. Following the club's mid-season bye and after the injury return of many of Richmond's senior leaders, Stack was shifted from the backline into a forward role for the club's round 15 match up against. He was exceptional in his first time playing that role, kicking four goals in a performance that saw him named among Richmond's best players by the Herald Sun, The Age and AFL Media. In addition, he was named best on ground by the coaches with nine votes in the AFLCA player of the year award and was also named to AFL Media's team of the week. Stack remained as a forward through the month of July, kicking three goals over his next four matches but suffering calf soreness in the lead-up to round 20's match against that forced him to sit out that win. He returned for one match at AFL level but was omitted from the senior side in round 22 following a 12 disposal performance. Stack excelled with 15 disposals in the first half of his first match at VFL level since March, before suffering a serious ankle injury just before half time. He underwent surgery to repair what was revealed to be a syndesmosis injury and with a recovery time frame of four weeks, was at risk of missing the entirety of the club's AFL and VFL finals series. Stack resumed weight-assisted running one week after his surgery and was running unassisted and taking part in light drills by the middle of September. He returned to football in the club's VFL grand final, five weeks after his initial injury. Stack played on reduced minutes and suffered a fresh minor rolled ankle in the match, notching a total of six disposals as his side won the club's first reserves premiership since 1997. He was considered sufficiently fit to be named an emergency for the following week's AFL grand final, though he would go unselected in the final premiership-winning side. At season's end, Stack placed third in the league's Rising Star award and was named in the AFL players' association's 22under22 team, which recognises the best young players in the league. He also placed equal 13th in the club's best and fairest count and won the Cosgrove-Jenkins award as Richmond's best first year player.

2020 season

Stack began pre-season training in November 2019 and spent the summer training as a half-back and a small forward. He returned to the club's AFL lineup with appearances in each of the club's two pre-season matches, including a 20-disposal, eight-tackle outing in the final match of the series which also featured a spectacular mark over forward Toby Greene. Stack's performances earned him selection for the season-opening win over Carlton a fortnight later, played under extraordinary conditions imposed on the league as a result of the rapid progression of the coronavirus pandemic into Australia. In what the league planned would be the first of a reduced 17-round season, the match was played without crowds in attendance due to public health prohibitions on large gatherings and with quarter lengths reduced by one fifth in order to reduce the physical load on players who would be expected to play multiple matches with short breaks in the second half of the year. Just three days later, the AFL Commission suspended the season for a period of at least 10 weeks after multiple states enforced quarantine conditions on their borders that effectively ruled out the possibility of continuing the season as planned.

Player profile

Stack is capable of playing many positions, including as a half-back or small forward, where he split his time in his first AFL and VFL seasons. With improved fitness, Stack is expected to move into a midfield role later in his AFL career.

AFL statistics

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2019
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2020

Honours and achievements

;AFL
;VFL
;Junior
Stack is cousin to forward Bobby Hill and shares a relation to former player Brennan Stack.
In November 2019, Stack began a relationship with Richmond AFL Women's midfielder Monique Conti.
He is an Aboriginal Australian man of the Noongar people.