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SEN • May 16th, 2025 2:10 pm
Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has slammed Port Adelaide CEO David Koch following his comments on the situation surrounding Willie Rioli and Bailey Dale.
In the wake of Rioli’s threat directed at Dogs defender Bailey Dale, and previous threats towards Geelong and Essendon players, the Port chief spoke out on the matter, suggesting that there were comments made to Rioli in the Round 8 game in Ballarat which led to him striking Dale off the ball and receiving a $1000 fine.
Koch insinuated that Rioli was subjected to cultural disrespect at the hands of the Western Bulldogs players, leading him to the text to another Dogs player a veiled threat, essentially warning Dale not to leave his hotel in Darwin.
“I can tell you as a matter of fact that the comments weren’t culturally insensitive,” Beveridge said in a press conference.
“It surprised me that he (Koch) would insinuate or accuse our players of going down that track. Especially our football club, and our people. (They are people of) high character, (and) would never disrespect First Nations’ people in our language or our actions.
“I said at the time, Willie’s made a mistake. We will forgive him and move on. He will learn from it.
“Will he learn from it if his own club is enabling him by making excuses for him? Because it didn’t happen. There’s always a little bit of edginess in the way players talk to each other, but our players would never say anything to an Indigenous player that is culturally insensitive.
“We won’t ask for an apology, we’ll just remember it for next time.
“We’d all moved on. As I said at the time, Bailey Dale - who wouldn’t agitate a milkshake - he’s an outstanding player but he’s not an adversarial front-foot type of player. He plays football.
“He wanted to move on extremely quickly because he was surprised by what had happened. We thought it was behind us.
“I’m sure the AFL would feel the same, so I’m just not sure what that angle has come up after the fact. Maybe because it’s Willie is back playing this week, I don’t know.”
