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Whateley: AFL's namby-pamby corporate spin on Rioli incident has caused a mess
Gerard Whateley • May 7th, 2025 2:52 pm
This is what should have happened on Monday - a statement from league headquarters that read:
The AFL has today investigated an incident subsequent to the Western Bulldogs v Port Adelaide match on Saturday.
Willie Rioli told investigators he sent a private message directed toward Bailey Dale to a Bulldogs teammate on Sunday morning.
The nature of that message was threatening.
Rioli acknowledges this was inappropriate and has apologised to Dale and the Western Bulldogs.
Regardless of what level of banter or abuse has taken place on the field during a game – and there are limits that the League will enforce where required – contact of this nature between players the following day will not be tolerated.
As such, Rioli has been charged with Conduct Unbecoming. He has been suspended from the next home and away match.
Port Adelaide has committed to working with Rioli to help him better manage these situations.
This should serve as a warning to the remainder of the competition and to every level of the football community.
Threatening messages between players subsequent to matches has no place in our game and will never be tolerated.
But that’s not what happened.
The AFL has today spoken to both Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs and while confirming it will take no further action to that undertaken by the clubs and players, it has reminded both clubs to ensure any communications remain respectful.
Namby-pamby corporate spin that doesn’t wash.
And now it’s a complete mess.
Two instances have been reported of Rioli making threats within games.
What’s said on the field and what happens in the cold light of day off the field are completely separate issues – but are now inevitably conflated.
The League says it knew nothing about anything, which suggests they didn’t look into this anywhere near adequately.
Because those involved on Monday morning were well aware it had happened before, and now two other instances have come to light.
So the AFL will spend the day doing what it should have done in the first place.
This will be much worse for Rioli than it was going to be if it had been dealt with expediently.
And it’s a troubling backdrop for the Bulldogs as they head to Darwin given the volatile and protracted nature of the affair.
It’s Wednesday morning, the message was sent on Sunday morning.
And the only person on record acknowledging there is a problem is Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge.
"Obviously Willie’s made a mistake,” Beveridge said.
“He’ll learn from it, and we’re all OK with that.
“The 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.”
The League’s judgment has been totally off here and you called them on it.
And now it’s a complete mess. I'm hearing some pretty weak excuses at the moment.
There should be, after the action, a period of introspection as to how this was missed.
