William Rioli (known as Junior Rioli since August 2022 and Willie Rioli beforehand) (born 4 June 1995) is a professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er playing for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL), having initially been drafted to the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football L ...

. He attended

Xavier College Xavier College is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, founded in 1872 by the Society of Jesus, with its main campus located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Classes started in 1878. ...

, Melbourne and was drafted by the West Coast Eagles with their third selection and fifty-second overall in the 2016 national draft. He made his debut in the fifty-one point win against the at

Etihad Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

in the round two of the 2018 season. Coming from the Rioli family, he is the

first cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

of Dean Rioli ( Essendon Football Club),

Cyril Rioli Cyril Rioli (born 14 July 1989) is a former Australian rules football player who played with the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League. Rioli was a member of four premiership teams and the Norm Smith Medallist from the 2015 ...

(

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawt ...

) and Ronnie Burns (from his mother's side), first cousin once removed of current Richmond Football Club player

Daniel Rioli Daniel Rioli (born 16 April 1997) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is a three-time premiership player with the club and in 2017 he received the aw ...

and the nephew of

Maurice Rioli Maurice Joseph Rioli Sr. (1 September 195725 December 2010) was an Australian rules footballer who represented St Mary's Football Club in the Northern Territory Football League (NTFL), in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and in th ...

Scandals

In September 2019, Rioli received an indefinite provisional suspension under the AFL and

Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) was a government statutory authority tasked to protect Australia's sporting integrity through the elimination of doping. The authority was part of the Department of Health's portfolio and was ...

anti-doping code for an alleged adverse analytical finding for urine substitution. Rioli publicly admitted to having smoked marijuana with other club members the night before his drug test, and is accused of attempting to swap his tainted urine with a clean sample in a Gatorade bottle. He was subsequently issued with an indefinite suspension from the AFL, and ruled out from competing with the West Coast Eagles in that year's finals series. Rioli was eventually handed a 2 year suspension in March 2021. On 23 April 2021, Rioli was transiting through

Darwin Airport Darwin International Airport is the busiest airport serving the Northern Territory and the tenth busiest airport in Australia. It is the only airport serving Darwin. The airport is located in Darwin's northern suburbs, from Darwin city ...

where he was stopped and searched after drug detection dogs detected drugs. He was found to be carrying 25 grams of marijuana in his pants and was arrested and issued with a court attendance notice. He pleaded guilty, and was given a 12-month good behaviour bond. Rioli recommenced training with the West Coast Eagles just 2 months later in June. Rioli was scheduled to play his first game back in round 23 of the 2021 AFL season but was ruled out the week prior due to a tight hamstring. Rioli requested a trade to at the conclusion of the 2022 AFL season, and was traded on 10 October.

Statistics

:''Statistics are correct to the end of the 2018 season'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , style="text-align:center;background:#afe6ba;", 2018† , style="text-align:center;", , 44 , , 24 , , 28 , , 14 , , 182 , , 90 , , 272 , , 77 , , 63 , , 1.2 , , 0.6 , , 7.6 , , 3.8 , , 11.3 , , 3.2 , , 2.6 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 24 !! 28 !! 14 !! 182 !! 90 !! 272 !! 77 !! 63 !! 1.2 !! 0.6 !! 7.6 !! 3.8 !! 11.3 !! 3.2 !! 2.6

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rioli, Willie 1995 births Living people West Coast Eagles players West Coast Eagles Premiership players Glenelg Football Club players St Mary's Football Club (NTFL) players Tiwi Bombers Football Club players Australian rules footballers from the Northern Territory Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football Northern Territory Football Club players East Perth Football Club players Rioli family One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players