Tyson Stengle, who was delisted by Adelaide last year before being picked up by Richmond as a free agent, has been named in the 2020 All Australian side – becoming the first player in history to achieve the feat.
Richmond coach Damien Hardwick said it was a “fantastic story”, while teammate Eddie Betts – who himself has overcome a difficult journey to the top – said he was proud to have played a part in Stengle’s redemption story.
Published: 23:16 EDT, 20 September 2022 Updated: 23:16 EDT, 20 September 2022
AFL greats have highlighted Cats star Tyson Stengle’s meteoric rise from being dropped over two drug busts to being named an All Australian as he played a big role in helping Geelong reach this year’s grand final.
The former Crow and Tiger was delisted by Adelaide in 2021 after a string of serious off-field incidents in a matter of months, including drink driving and twice being caught with an illicit substance.
Adelaide were essentially left with no choice but to release the prodigiously talented forward, but based on the recommendation by assistant coach Eddie Betts, Geelong eagerly added him to their already high-powered forward line in the preseaosn.
As one of Stengle’s closest friends – and an apparent father figure to the Indigenous forward – Betts knew his distant relative had the ‘potential to be a great man’.
Betts has now revealed his devastated reaction when he discovered Stengle was caught with an illicit substance.
‘It was tough when those incidents started to occur,’ Betts told the Herald Sun over the string of events that led to Stengle’s sacking from the Crows.
‘I looked on my phone one day and there was a story about an Adelaide player who had been done for drugs.
‘It didn’t say who it was and as I was waiting for it to load I was thinking, “Please don’t be Tyson, please don’t be Tyson”. And then it came up as Tyson Stengle. F***,’ said Betts of the 2020 incident.
Stengle and teammate Brad Crouch were caught by police with an illicit substance in the Adelaide CBD on a night out in September 2020.
He was then seen in front of a plate holding an allegedly illicit substance three months later, after he’d been arrested for several driving charges in April of that year.
The precocious forward had been stopped by police for driving an unregistered car, and was then found to have a blood alcohol reading of 0.125 – but it appears those days are finally behind him.
As the 23-year-old prepares to play in the AFL grand final on Saturday, Betts said it has been a phenomenal comeback.
‘He has created history as the first delisted free agent to be All Australian. He can go back-to-back premierships from SANFL to AFL … It’s just an amazing story,’ said the 350-game Indigenous legend.
In his recently released autobiography, ‘The Boy from Boomerang Crescent’, Betts explains Stengle came to live with him, his wife Anna and their five children.
‘He’s a funny and caring fulla and my kids just absolutely loved him,’ he wrote.
‘Sometimes Tyson can be a shy, misunderstood kid but he’s overcome serious adversities to be where he is today. He’s a leader, and both footy-smart and street-smart.’
Those adversities, aside from the off-field issues, refers to his upbringing. With one parent absent and another dying young, Stengle and his siblings were often in care early in their lives.
But the funny side of Stengle was on full display in his early years at the Tigers, with coach Damien Hardwick recalling the time the man affectionately known as ‘Wombat’ called him while he was a little worse for wear.
‘We were playing the Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium on a Sunday and he rang my phone at 2am in the morning [after playing VFL] and I didn’t answer it. Fair to say he had a few beers, “Wombo”,’ Hardwick told the Herald Sun.
‘We rang him on Facetime before the game and he answered it and the boys had a great laugh. He is a great kid, we wish him all the best and hopefully he walks away a premiership winner.’
Hardwick said the forward pocket is still ‘well-loved at the club’, where he won the 2017 VFL premiership as an 18-year-old.
Come Sunday he might just be an AFL premiership player – the Holy Grail of footy.
Stengle’s talent has never been in question across his 40-game career – and with his off-field life settled, he is clearly thriving at Geelong.
His remarkable 2022 season has featured 49 goals from 24 matches – an unbelievable return from a pocket in a forward line that already boasts Tom Hawkins and Jeremy Cameron.
The heartwarming redemption story will become a fairytale if Stengle can play his part and raise the AFL Premiership Cup with a win over Sydney come 2.30pm on Saturday at the MCG.