William Rioli Jr. (born 4 June 1995), formerly known as Junior Rioli, 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er playing for the

Port Adelaide Football Club Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where it is nicknamed the ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(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 and first competed in 1987 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known ...

. Coming from the

Rioli family The Rioli family are a notable Australian rules football family from the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory. Six family members have played in the Australian Football League (AFL), with a further five playing in the West Australian Football L ...

, he is the son of former South Fremantle player Willie Rioli Sr., he is also the

first cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the lineal kinship, kinship system used in the English-s ...

of Dean Rioli (

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers or colloquially the Dons, is a professional Australian rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCrac ...

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 was the Norm Smith Medallist in 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 Hawth ...

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

Gold Coast Suns The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast in the ...

player

Daniel Rioli Daniel Rioli (born 16 April 1997) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Gold Coast Suns in the Australian Football League (AFL). Before moving to Gold Coast in 2024, Rioli was a three-time premiership player with and in ...

and the nephew of

Maurice Rioli Maurice Joseph Rioli Sr. (1 September 1957 – 25 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 ...

Early life

Rioli was raised in

Tiwi Islands The Tiwi Islands ( meaning "two islands") are part of the Northern Territory, Australia, to the north of Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin adjoining the Timor Sea. They comprise Melville Island, Northern Territory, Melville Island, Bathurst I ...

and later boarded at

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. The ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. He completed his final year of school at Clontarf Aboriginal College in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

and played colts and reserves for South Fremantle. Rioli later moved to

Adelaide, South Australia Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

and played for in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

(SANFL) in 2015 and 2016 before being drafted by the West Coast Eagles with their third selection and fifty-second overall in the 2016 national draft.

AFL career

The small forward made his debut in the 51-point win against the at

Etihad Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium, currently known as Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, and commonly shortened as The Etihad, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City, with a domestic football capacity of 53,600, making it the 7t ...

in round two of the 2018 season. Following his debut, Rioli didn't miss a game for the rest of the season as the Eagles went on to win the

2018 AFL Grand Final The 2018 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the West Coast Eagles and the Collingwood Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 29 September 2018. It was the 123rd annual grand final of the Australian ...

against . Rioli kicked his team's first goal of the match. He also won West Coast's Emerging Talent award for his successful debut year. Following 2021's ban on Rioli for

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

possession, he recommenced training with the West Coast Eagles just 2 months later in June 2021. Rioli was scheduled to play his first game back in round 23 of the

2021 AFL season The 2021 AFL season was the 125th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season feature ...

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 The 2022 AFL season was the 126th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featur ...

in a move that Eagles CEO Trevor Nisbett described as "bitterly disappointing". The trade was confirmed on 10 October 2022. Prior to the

2025 AFL season The 2025 AFL season is the 129th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest-level senior men's Australian rules football competition in Australia. The season features 18 clubs and will run from 7 March to 27 September, comprisi ...

, Rioli was selected to play in the Indigenous All-Stars team against . He kicked a goal alongside other indigenous players. Rioli played his 100th AFL game in the round 11 loss to during Sir Doug Nicholls Round.

Controversies

Drugs

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 Australian Government, government statutory authority tasked to protect Australia's sporting integrity through the elimination of doping in sport, doping. The authority was part of the D ...

anti-doping code for an alleged adverse analytical finding for urine substitution. Rioli publicly admitted to having smoked

with other club members the night before his drug test, and attempted to swap his tainted urine with a clean sample in a

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. The drink is owned and manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was develope ...

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. Following a long anti-doping review by the AFL, Rioli was eventually handed a back-dated two-year suspension in March 2021. On 23 April 2021, Rioli was transiting through

Darwin Airport Darwin International Airport is a Domestic Airport, domestic and International Airport, international airport serving Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. It is the List of the busiest airports in Australia, eleventh busiest airport in Au ...

where he was stopped and searched after drug detection dogs gave a positive indication that he was carrying an illicit substance. He was caught carrying 25 grams of marijuana in his pants, and was subsequently arrested and issued with a court attendance notice. He later pleaded guilty in court, and was given a 12-month good behaviour bond.

Social media post against Hawthorn

In April 2025, following a win by Port Adelaide over Hawthorn, Rioli took to social media stating: "Play with fire, you’re gonna get burnt. My hatred for this club goes way pass iclast year icantics, what they did to my dad, and my brother, is why I can’t stand them. Not the players. #Cococlub." This referred to the Hawthorn Football Club historical racism allegations involving Rioli's cousin (referred to in his statement as brother)

. The post led to online racist abuse towards Willie Rioli, and he soon deleted the post. The following day, Port Adelaide issued a statement saying they acknowledged Rioli's pain, but that his social media post was inappropriate; he was granted leave to skip Tuesday's training session.

Violent threats

Following a fiery May 2025 match against the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Originally named the Footscray F ...

, Rioli privately messaged opposition defender Bailey Dale. Rioli sent an indirect threat towards Dale, warning him to be careful while visiting Darwin, where the Bulldogs were set to play the following week. While the AFL dismissed the off-field incident, further allegations surfaced of similar threats against and players in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, which led the league to reinvestigate the threats. Rioli was suspended for one match, the

Showdown A showdown is a duel. The term may also refer to: Places * Showdown Ski Area, in Montana, United States Books * ''Showdown'' (Amado novel), a 1984 novel by Jorge Amado * ''Showdown'' (Dekker novel), a 2006 novel by Ted Dekker * ''Showdown'' (F ...

against , which he had chosen to withdraw from regardless of the AFL's decision.

Statistics

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2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

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2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rioli, Willie 1995 births Living people West Coast Eagles players Port Adelaide Football Club players West Coast Eagles premiership players Doping cases in Australian rules football Australian sportspeople in doping cases 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 21st-century Indigenous Australian people Northern Territory Football Club players East Perth Football Club players Rioli family VFL/AFL premiership players 21st-century Australian sportsmen People educated at Xavier College