Richmond recruiter reveals how Tigers plotted Sydney Stack coup

Richmond expected Sydney Stack would be overlooked in the draft despite being one of the country’s top junior talents. And when it happened, a plan swung into action.

Sydney Stack’s arrival at Richmond was the result of a months-long recruiting plan.

The Tigers pounced after Stack was overlooked in the national and pre-season drafts, taking advantage of new AFL rules that allowed clubs to leave a vacant spot on their list.

“The new rules opening up gave us great flexibility to say, ‘Hey, we can try before we buy’ in a sense,” Richmond recruiting manager Matt Clarke said.

“We were on the front foot early which he was really happy with, and his manager as well, to get him over and train.

“We had some really good advice from the WA talent guys as well around what that would look like if he did come over — where he would live, who he would live with and all those types of things — so we had a plan in place pretty quickly and set it in motion as quick as we could.”

Sydney Stack has become an instant sensation at Richmond.

After a two-month trial Stack joined the Tigers in February under new rules that allow clubs to sign players in the pre-season supplementary selection period. Other players signed during the SSP include Essendon ruckman Zac Clarke, Carlton’s Michael Gibbons and Demon Jay Lockhart.

Clarke told the Road to the Draft podcast the Tigers had tracked Stack since he was a 16-year-old. Recruiters had their ears to the ground and expected the explosive utility, now second-favourite for the Rising Star Award, to slip through both drafts last November despite being one of the top-rated talents in the country.

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“Sydney had some challenges in his life growing up. His talent was always there, there was no questioning that, and obviously we can see that now, it was just whether his commitment to football outside the football environment was at the level required,” Clarke said.

“He’d made some mistakes along the way.

“It was just a matter of finding the balance for him of actually saying ... can I stay committed to football, and they were probably the doubts we had and other clubs obviously had those as well.

“Getting to the draft we had a plan that if he had got through, and our information was that he was likely to get through the national draft, not sure about the rookie draft, but we’d made some contact with his manager between both those drafts, on the night and the day after, that if that did occur he could come and train under the new rules, so we were happy to leave a spot open and go that way.

“As we got to the rookie draft once again our information was that he was going to get through and we’d offer him a lifeline to come over and train just to see how committed he was to the program.”

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Stack immediately impressed the coaches with his dedication on the track — tales of him repeatedly throwing up have become legendary — and his spark off the field.

“He’s quite annoying,” Clarke said, laughing.

“When he came over and he started living with Damien and the Hardwicks, who have been fantastic in that area with (Daniel) Rioli and a couple of other boys, Damien was talking to me a couple of days later and saying, ‘What have you given me?’. I was a bit shocked and asked what happened and he just said ‘He won’t stop talking’.”

Sydney Stack takes a spectacular grab against St Kilda.

Stack has played every game since making his debut in Round 3, averaging 17.3 disposals, 5.3 marks, 3.1 tackles and booting nine goals, while amassing a brilliant highlight reel.

He is in a two-way race with Carlton’s Sam Walsh for the Rising Star. Walsh is $.125 favourite with TAB ahead of Stack at $4. Third in line in betting is Geelong’s Gyan Miers ($13).

Clarke said Richmond probably would have picked Stack in the rookie draft if the SSP rules weren’t available, but it wasn’t a sure thing.

He also provided an update on another young indigenous talent, Maurice Rioli Jr. The son of late Richmond champion Maurice Rioli is enrolled at Scotch College in Hawthorn and is eligible for next year’s draft under the father-son rule.

“He’s progressing pretty well, he’s a pretty hard-at-it unit and skilled as well, so it’s a matter of getting his conditioning and running and all those things, and diet, that the school is fantastic with,” Clarke said.

“He’ll be able to come in later in the year, post the season finishing, and do some work with us, but he’s a very talented young boy.

“We don’t want to push him too hard, we know where he needs to get to and that’s a journey that will take a little bit of time ... but by the end of next year hopefully he’s made some progress in those areas.”

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Originally published as Richmond recruiter reveals how Tigers plotted Sydney Stack coup