Richmond star Jack Riewoldt says the AFL club always expected "small issues" would arise with Sydney Stack, but will continue to support the young player as he awaits another court appearance next week.
Stack, 20, was granted bail and released from a West Australian jail last week for the first time since mid-December.
He was arrested on December 19 for allegedly breaching the conditions of his travel exemption into the state and spent Christmas behind bars.
Stack was absent as the Tigers returned for pre-season training on Monday and is due to face court again on January 20.
"It is disappointing, as a senior player, when someone finds themself in trouble," Tigers vice-captain Riewoldt said.
"But when we engaged Sydney to come to our football club we weren't under an illusion that he was going to come in and it was going to be a really smooth transition.
"We expected that we were going to have some small issues with him.
"When you take on a young man like Sydney, who hasn't been afforded a lot of the luxuries that a lot of Australian children grow up with, you know that it's going to be a project."
Stack was allowed into WA on compassionate grounds on December 10 for his grandfather's funeral and under the provision he would serve a quarantine period of 14 days at his nominated address in Northam, about 97km from Perth.
He was allegedly found by police days later in the Perth party district of Northbridge, and had allegedly been staying at a residence in suburban Belmont.
Stack was also at the centre of a coronavirus protocol breach in September, when he and teammate Callum Coleman-Jones were sent home from Queensland.
The pair were suspended for 10 matches and fined for their involvement in a late-night fight on the Gold Coast while they were supposed to be in Richmond's AFL bubble.
Stack has played 26 AFL games in two seasons for the Tigers and still has four matches of his suspension left to serve.
He was originally recruited as a pre-season supplementary selection, having been overlooked at the draft, in February 2019.
"He's a young man that has got a lot of issues, he's got a lot of potential, but most importantly now we put the football side of things to one side and we actually want to continue to grow him as a young man," Riewoldt said.
"He's got some fantastic traits and unfortunately he found himself in a situation which was against the law and certainly the wrong thing to do, but we're not going to give up on Sydney Stack."
