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The AFL is reportedly ‘livid’ after further incidents of alleged threats by Port Adelaide forward Willie Rioli against opponents were revealed, blindsiding the league – but Power president David Koch has come to his defence.
Rioli controversially 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.
Club president David Koch, however, remains in Rioli’s corner, saying the racial abuse he has received should be taken into account.
“The 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,” Koch told FiveAA.
“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 and don’t get me wrong, but we have a duty to support the players and turn a bit of attention on to what society is doing to these players.”
Koch added that the Power are ‘incredibly angry’ at Rioli, particularly regarding his message to Dale.
“What is said on the field is one thing. What is done off-field, particularly on social media and a private message to another player he thought would stay private but then was passed on … we’ve talked pretty sternly to Willie about it and said it’s just not on,” he said.
“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.”
Bombers coach Brad Scott said on Wednesday the club had ‘zero issues’ with Rioli and would not be taking things further.
“There are community expectations around player behaviour on and off the field, but within those expectations I have a pretty firm belief of what happens on the field should stay on the field, provided that it’s within general community expectations,” Scott said.
“Our players feel that whatever was said or done on field against Port Adelaide should stay on the field, we’re not interested in engaging further.”
Scott drew a distinction between off-field threats and matters on-field, with the exception of racism.
“We absolutely know that there is no space or place for racism on or off the field … but on-field, it is a competitive environment, and what would be defined as a threat could be a pretty loose term,” he said.
“We play a combative, competitive sport and I would expect our players to be combative, expect than to do that within the realms of sportsmanship, there’s certainly a place for what happens on the field stays on the field.”
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’.”
SEN’s Sam Edmund reported on Wednesday morning that league officials, who were ‘blindsided’ by the revelations, will be seeking further information about the previous threatening incidents.
“A LIVID AFL will today re-examine the behaviour of Willie Rioli, with a sanction yet possible for the Port Adelaide forward,” Edmund wrote on X.
“The league is furious over media revelations that Rioli has threatened players in games against Geelong & Essendon dating back to last season, rather than receiving formal complaints.
“The AFL insist they were blindsided by Rioli’s on-field priors and after late-night phone calls, will be seeking more info today.”
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)
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.
Port Adelaide have reportedly tabled a monster contract offer to Zak Butters, in a bid to retain the star midfielder beyond the end of 2026.
Butters has been linked to the Western Bulldogs and Geelong among other candidates, both at the end of the year or when his contract expires in 16 months’ time; but the Power aren’t messing around in their quest to keep him.
According to afl.com.au’s Callum Twomey, the deal will be one of the richest in AFL history, and feature a unique clause – an initial two-year contract extension until the end of 2028, with a player option to extend for a further six years until the end of 2024.
“It’s essentially an eight-year agreement, and he can lock in at any point he wants across the next two years,” Twomey told afl.com.au’s Gettable.
According to Twomey, the offer would be ‘the biggest deal in AFL history’ if Butters put pen to paper.
“It’s the most lucrative offer that we’ve seen from a club,” he said.
“That’s really the flag in the ground from what this guy’s worth from a Port Adelaide point of view … he’s not going to be moving for money.”
An All-Australian in 2023 and 2024 and two-time reigning Power best-and-fairest winner, the vice-captain is regarded as one of the AFL’s premier on-ballers.
Averaging a career high 28.2 disposals and 7.8 tackles per game in 2025, his return from pre-season injury concerns that delayed his start to the year coincided with a three-game Power winning streak that was emphatically ended with a 90-point loss to the Bulldogs on the weekend.
A staunch disciple of outgoing coach Ken Hinkley, Butters’ future has been a source of debate and intrigue over the last few months.
He will be a restricted free agent at the end of 2026, and thus free to nominate another club to join – though the Power will have the right to match the bid and force a trade.
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