The AFL has been slammed for their lack of action against Port Adelaide forward Willie Rioli, as further incidents of alleged threats against opponents have been revealed.
Rioli faced no sanction from the league after sending a message to a Western Bulldogs player allegedly warning Bulldogs defender Bailey Dale, who Rioli had clashed with during the Power’s 90-point loss in Ballarat, to not leave the team hotel in Darwin for their upcoming trip to face Gold Coast.
It came after he was handed a $1000 fine for striking Dale in an off-the-ball incident.
Rioli has since apologised to Dale, who accepted the apology, with the Bulldogs, Power and AFL all considering the matter closed.
Further incidents involving Rioli have since come to light, with The Age reporting Rioli threatened a Geelong player during a match at GMHBA Stadium last year, which left the player ‘distressed’.
The report claims Cats football boss Andrew Mackie expressed concerns to Power officials following the match, though an official complaint to the AFL or public relevation never occurred at the request of the player, with Power football manager Chris Davies speaking to Rioli about his remark.
Nine’s Tom Morris further reported that Rioli also made threatening comments towards an Essendon player during the Power’s clash with the Bombers mere weeks ago.
The trio of alleged incidents prompted former Collingwood president Eddie McGuire to urge the AFL to deal Rioli and Port Adelaide officials with an official ‘please explain’ about his conduct.
“[AFL football general manager] Laura Kane and the integrity officer has to ring Essendon, Geelong and the Bulldogs, get statements and get Rioli, his chief executive, his manager and his coach and come in and have the old fashioned ‘please explain’,” McGuire said on Nine’s Footy Classified.
“Whether or not they want to retrospectively go back and give him a suspension or a fine, that’s up to the AFL, but there now needs to be a come to Jesus moment.
“You cannot be going out threatening people on a football field … investigate what happened, and if the provocation was enough, then they [the alleged victims] face the consequences too.”
On Fox Footy’s AFL 360, veteran journalist Gerard Whateley condemned the AFL’s inaction, comparing Rioli’s lack of punishment to recent league-appointed sanctions including severe penalties for GWS players over an off-season dress-up party, and a fine for Geelong star Bailey Smith over flipping the bird at a crowd member in Adelaide.
“I can’t quite fathom where the AFL has landed here, which is nowhere,” Whateley said.
“For the second time recently, they are in breach of community standards … the football public is unhappy to say the least.
“They have pulled up to punish Osama bin Laden masks at a off season party and flipping the bird, which presumably is done for the likelihood to incite.
“They seem to have just completely missed the gravity of a player sending a message to a rival player’s teammate threatening the day after a game … the common man is going ‘well, that’s not only in breach of footy standards, that’s borderline in breach of the law’.”
Speaking on Tuesday, Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge expressed his hope that all parties will ‘learn from’ the incident.
“Obviously Willie’s made a mistake. He’ll learn from it, and we’re all OK with that,” he said.
“Discretion there is important, and I think that’s how both clubs are treating it.
“Let’s just learn from it and move on and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Willie Rioli celebrates a goal. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
‘Act like a president’: Dees boss clipped after blasting media over Oliver treatment
Melbourne interim president and former player Brad Green has been criticised after taking to social media to slam the media’s treatment of star Demon Clayton Oliver.
Oliver, who missed the Demons’ win over West Coast for personal reasons, was briefly ‘door-stopped’ by Nine reporter Joel Kennedy on his way to club training on Tuesday.
When asked about whether he would return for the Dees’ clash with Hawthorn on Saturday at the MCG, he replied ‘Who knows?’
Green, who replaced former Demons president Kate Roffey late last year and played 254 games for the club between 2000 and 2012, took to X to condemn the exchange, saying journalists ‘have no integrity’ and branding discussion around Oliver an ‘absolute disgrace’.
“The treatment and talk around Clayton is an absolute disgrace,” he wrote.
“The “football journalists” have no integrity. Grow up and leave the kid alone. They wonder why they have personal struggles and have to have a week off.”
In a follow-up post, Green added: “This isn’t a personal attack on the journo in question. Clayton came forward to say he was struggling and needed support. As such we asked that his privacy be respected and yet we’ve had 4 days of media focus on him.”
Unsurprisingly, the media was quick to fire back, with former great James Hird urging Green to ‘act like a president’ on Nine’s Footy Classified.
“As a player or a coach, you expect to be interviewed as you’re going into a club or out of a club,” Hird said.
“It’s not his home, it’s about football, it’s nothing to do with mental health at all, it’s about his football.
“The other thing I’d say to Brad Green is, you’re the president. You’re not a supporter, you’re not a player. You’re a president. Act like a president, stay off social media.”
“That is a legitimate question because ‘Clarry’ was at training, the talk of the town this week … has been about him playing against Hawthorn,” co-host Eddie McGuire added.
“Once you go to training, it’s a legitimate question.
“It wasn’t like he door-stopped him and said ‘Have you got any issues? Have you got mental health issues? Why aren’t you training? Are you going to go to Geelong? Did this happen?’
“It’s a good learning experience – Brad, put the phone away, bud. Everyone else – calm down, this is going to be a big story until it’s not.”
It has also been reported Oliver is keen on a trade at season’s end, and is frustrated about his lack of game time through 2025.
He was heavily linked to Geelong in the 2024 off-season, but no trade was forthcoming. He is contracted to Melbourne until the end of 2030.
