Willie Rioli has withdrawn from Port Adelaide’s Showdown clash with Adelaide on Saturday, amid the fallout from a series of threats made to opposition players.
After it emerged following the league’s decision to not sanction Rioli over a threatening text message concerning Western Bulldogs defender Bailey Dale sent to another Dogs player that the 29-year old had also threatened Geelong and Essendon players on-field in the last 12 months, backlash over the lack of action taken.
On Thursday, Rioli withdrew from the Power team to face the Crows, acknowledging his actions were ‘totally unacceptable’.
“With all the stress from this week, I feel it’s best for me and the team that I take a break,” Rioli said in a statement.
“I again acknowledge that my actions after last weekend’s game against the Bulldogs were totally unacceptable.
“I apologised to Bailey Dale on Monday and I want to publicly apologise again for the stress my actions have caused.
“I say things from time to time on the footy field in the heat of the moment that I wish I didn’t and I’m continuing to work with the club on managing this moving forward.
“It’s not in my true nature or character to say those things and I apologise for any distress I cause to individuals or their families.
“I want to thank the Port Adelaide Football Club and all of my teammates and coaches for their support.”
The AFL have decided not to further punish Rioli, having reportedly settled on a one-match suspension to rule him out of the Showdown before Rioli stood himself down.
The Power will name their team for the blockbuster clash on Thursday evening.
League CEO Andrew Dillon has requested in a phone conference with all 18 club CEOs ‘the importance of notifying the AFL’ of incidents such as this, claiming the saga made them look ‘unprofesisonal’, according to SEN’s Sam Edmund.
“Andrew Dillon has used today’s CEO hook-up with the 18 clubs to remind them of the importance of notifying the AFL when there are incidents in future, with the league unhappy they’re being held to account for things they didn’t know about,” Edmund wrote on X.
“The league’s view is that the entire industry looks unprofessional and things like the drawn-out Rioli saga reflect poorly on the wider competition, not just the specific clubs involved.”
Power football boss Chris Davies said it hadn’t been an easy time for Rioli but he knew he needed to front up and answer questions, and do whatever he could to move the situation forward.
“With what he’s gone through in the last 24 hours, not taking away from the fact that we’re dealing with a real issue here, it’s fair that he will see how he goes after training [to decide if he plays against the Crows],” Davies said.
“We’ll continue to try and support him as much as we can, if that means pulling him out of the game, then we’ll do that.”
Along with the Bulldogs, both Essendon and Geelong have been dragged into the Rioli saga after it was revealed the 29-year-old used strong verbal threats during two games in the past 12 months.
Those incidents emerged following the AFL’s decision not to sanction Rioli for sending an intimidating private message about Dale to one of the Bulldogs defender’s teammates the day after a heated match in Ballarat on Saturday.
The league put out a brief statement on Monday, saying it had “reminded both clubs to ensure any communications remain respectful”.
But the AFL met with Rioli and Davies when the two other allegations came to light.
Earlier, Port president David Koch said the club was “incredibly angry” about the situation.
“We’ve talked pretty sternly to Willie about it and said it’s just not on,” Koch told 5AA Radio.
“I’m making absolutely no excuse for Willie’s private message after the game.
“But you can’t mix on-field and off-field comments or it will lead to places people don’t want to go.”
But Koch did stand up for Rioli and other Indigenous players at Port and in the AFL.
“You’ve got absolutely no idea what they go through, both on-field and off-field,” he said.
“The (racial) threats we receive as a club against our Indigenous players would just horrify you, and we see a responsibility to protect them in that situation as well.
“It’s a build-up of pressure and abuse that they’ve received and every individual handles that differently and that’s what we’ve got to take into account.
“There’s no excusing that, don’t get me wrong, but we have a duty to support the players.”
Essendon coach Brad Scott has been made aware of Rioli’s alleged threat towards a Bombers player, later reported to be young defender Archie Roberts, but declared it’s “not our issue, it’s a Port Adelaide and AFL issue”.
“Our players have zero concerns,” Scott said on Wednesday.
“Our players feel that whatever was said or done on the field against Port Adelaide should stay on the field, and we’re not interested in engaging beyond this.
“Clearly over the decades, expectations have quite rightfully changed in line with broader community expectations.
“The AFL have been industry, if not world leaders, in terms of tackling issues like racism.
“We absolutely know there is no space or place for racism on or off field.
“We play a combative sport, and I would expect our players to be combative, but I would expect them to do that within the realms of sportsmanship and also broader community expectations.”
It was reported by Fox Footy’s AFL 360 host Gerard Whateley that the Bombers treated Rioli’s sledge ‘comically’, with the Power forward claiming Roberts lived in the wrong suburb.
“This is your ‘I know where you live, you live in X suburb’, and that’s not where Archie Roberts lives at all,” Whateley said.
“This is ludicrous, and so the players treated it as ludicrous, and there was no legacy to this. What happened was said, it was stupid, puerile is probably the word that I would go with … and the players were unbothered by it.”
Whateley also reported that the threat against Geelong forward Bradley Close during a match at GMHBA Stadium in mid-2023, immediately following Rioli giving away two 50m penalties, was far more serious.
“Those on the spot – so there’s the free kick, two 50m penalties, Rioli says something to Brad Close, and you just watch the reaction of Jeremy Cameron,” Whateley said.
“The players around heard what was said, and their instant reaction – players are the best judges in these moments, was something said that was completely out of order? Yeah. It was.”
(with AAP)
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