A former AFL rookie has been arrested and charged over a western suburbs armed robbery ring allegedly motivated by the drug ice, where almost $290,000 was stolen at gunpoint from an armoured vehicle.

Ben Sharp, drafted to the West Coast Eagles in 2005 from VFL side Oakleigh Chargers, was on Tuesday charged over the gunpoint hold-up of an unarmed security guard outside a Sunbury McDonald's on December 1.

Former West Coast Eagle Ben Sharp playing for Werribee in a VFL semi-final against Casey in 2011. Credit:Getty Images

The guard, two weeks in the job, had been driving an armoured vehicle collecting the day's takings from seven McDonalds stores in the area when Ben Sharp, 28, his brother, Christopher Sharp, 23, and Nathan Lack, 33, allegedly brandished a handgun and shotgun to steal $287,000.

Each was remanded to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday in an out-of-sessions hearing on Tuesday night after they were arrested in raids by the armed crime taskforce on 10 homes in Melbourne's west earlier on Tuesday.