Newcastle Knight rugby league player Russell Packer has been jailed for two years for assault, dismaying the Kiwi enforcer and prompting his lawyers to lodge an immediate appeal.

Packer looked to his supporters, which included his partner and a number of Knights officials, in distress before he was led away in handcuffs from a Downing Centre Local Court on Monday.

Earlier Packer, 24, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm after he bashed a man during a booze-fuelled night last year, with the court hearing he had stomped on his victim's face as the man lay motionless in Martin Place in Sydney's CBD.

Packer was refused bail until his appeal is heard in February.