Dual West Coast premiership player Peter Sumich has detailed his role in helping Sydney Stack realise his AFL dream.
Sumich coached Stack in the Western Australian Under-18 side, helping him develop better habits as a footballer.
The exciting teenager was added to Richmond’s list in the pre-season supplemental selection period, and the former Eagles assistant coach believes he was overlooked in the draft due to issues over his professionalism.
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“The recruiters had a lot of question marks on his off-field demeanour,” he told SEN’s The Captain Run.
“It wasn’t so much going out drinking or anything like that, it was more rocking up to training.
“The kid’s done it hard and I felt for him throughout his younger age, no parents, he struggled to get to training a lot of the time.
“He did it really hard, he lived in probably four or five different homes over the last two or three years because he never had a settled home.”
Sumich used the AFL Under-18 Championships as an opportunity to teach Stack a lesson about making it to the AFL.
“Just before our first game against South Australia, he missed training and I suspended him for Round 1,” the former Eagles forward said.
“The kid nearly got down on his knees and was begging me to play him and he was crying and I said, 'no, I’m not going to play you'.
“I think the best thing for you is to realise that you’ve got to do the right thing because the AFL system will eat you up.
“So I suspended him for Round 1 and then he played the last three games, got in the All-Australian (team) and that’s where I thought from there on end, he would be a certainty to get drafted.”
Although he was thrilled that Stack got drafted, Sumich was even happier when he found out he was heading to a club outside of Western Australia.
“I was hoping that if he got drafted, he would move out of WA,” he said.
“I thought that would’ve been the best thing for him not to be drafted by any of the clubs here so he could move away and start a new life.
“I think the best thing for the kid was to get away and get his opportunity.”
Stack’s opportunity comes against the Giants on Saturday, where his side will be hoping to bounce back from a Round 2 loss against Collingwood.
Hear Peter Sumich's chat on The Captain's Run with Kane Cornes in the player below:
