News Jnr Rioli - He’s back.

FreeTK

Premiership Player
Oct 2, 2019
4,781
8,822
AFL Club
West Coast
I'm pretty sure it's not the whole squad.

I've heard around 30 to 35.

Still, pointless taking him and a waste of money really.
Especially if he wanted to take the family.

Just posted the AFL rules in the hub thread.

No restrictions on players.
 

FreeTK

Premiership Player
Oct 2, 2019
4,781
8,822
AFL Club
West Coast
Will clubs take their whole lists I wonder?

All the coaches are going, so I am not sure what players outside the best 30 or so are going to do if they stay in WA.

Simmo was on fox footy on the weekend, he was talking about setting up an olympic type challenge event with Freo where they do a range of different things.

Simmo is dry so hard to tell if he was serious.
 

shooshka

Premiership Player
Oct 7, 2011
3,165
5,863
Melbourne
AFL Club
West Coast
I read that the SA teams are taking the whole playing group, but they’re going now and doing the mini-pre-season in Qld.

I'd guess we take our whole group minus Willie and DV - as they are both on the inactive list.

Why not (unless there is a reason a player can't go) - as if they are required say 3-weeks into the restart then they won't be able to join the hub or play games I would assume. Also match practice and fitness is going to be much better if all players train as a team.
 
Aug 16, 2009
706
1,157
AFL Club
West Coast
I'd guess we take our whole group minus Willie and DV - as they are both on the inactive list.

Why not (unless there is a reason a player can't go) - as if they are required say 3-weeks into the restart then they won't be able to join the hub or play games I would assume. Also match practice and fitness is going to be much better if all players train as a team.

Plus as a player, not going basically means you're going to get delisted if there's smaller list size next year.
 

FreeTK

Premiership Player
Oct 2, 2019
4,781
8,822
AFL Club
West Coast
Ryan Daniels: Why the Willie Rioli drug saga needs an ending for West Coast
The West Australian
Friday, 22 May 2020 9:00PM

Here’s a list of things you can do in the span of eight months: Grow a human from the size of a watermelon seed, to an actual watermelon.
Build a house from slab to lock-up.
Watch every single Simpsons episode back to back, 30 times.
And there are things you can’t do, apparently, in eight months:
Test a sample, compile information, decide on a penalty and communicate it to a footballer.
Of all the ridiculous, outdated, political bulls*** that goes on in world sport, the lack of urgency from our drug authorities is right up there with the worst of it.
We are eight months, 11 days in and Willie Rioli is still without answers. Forget about innocence, guilt or even punishment ... it’s about duty of care and human decency.
In football, we often get carried away, treating every four points, tribunal hearing or ankle injury like it’s life or death. But in the case of mental health, it very well could be. That’s not me being dramatic.
How is it possible that a government body can show such ignorance when it comes to this serious issue? We know more about this stuff now than ever before.
We live in 2020. A time when it’s ok if you’re not ok, when men of all ages are learning that speaking out, communicating your feelings, even the darkest ones, is a good thing.
A time when we’re supposed to be conscious of how we act, what we do or say, and be aware of just how fragile the mind really is. Yet apparently no one told ASADA.
Over the years I’ve had a bit to do with Willie.
Willie Rioli has a laugh as he returns to training while under provisional drug suspension.

Before he’d played a game for the Eagles I visited Willie at the home of his former host family for a story. His second mum, Maureen Marsh, spoke with pride. He was like a son. We had dinner. Willie’s partner Lucy and baby boy Martin were there. I kept looking at Martin thinking this infant already carried more football talent in his little finger than I had in my whole body. I’m pretty sure at one point he sidestepped his milk bottle.
Willie talked of growing up with Anthony McDonald- Tipungwuti on the Tiwi Islands. He and Lucy met as kids and fell in love.
The thing that stood out to me — this might be the most kind, gentle but naïve person in the AFL system. Was he prepared for what might come?
A few weeks earlier Willie had been approached by my colleague Adrian Barich for a comment. Willie gleefully accepted, grabbed the microphone and started smiling. Pure innocence.
In a short time, Willie Rioli lived up to the family name. Regardless of your allegiance, he immediately became one of the most entertaining players in football.
He possessed the rare combination of skill, deft touch, decision making, flair — and just the right amount of arrogance — something that comes from having a surname that immediately puts small defenders on the back foot.
The overweight SANFL kid had become one of the AFL’s premier small forwards and a premiership player in 38 games. In West Coast’s star-studded side, he was cemented in the best 22. But in this case, urine cuts through cement.
On September 12 last year Willie’s life came to a halt.
Around 11pm he was playing video games with a teammate when a bunch of men in suits appeared, whisked him away and told him the bare minimum. He couldn’t play against the Cats on Saturday. He was provisionally suspended. He couldn’t discuss things with his teammates.


That was it.
Within hours he was in Darwin, then on a boat to the Tiwi Islands, probably wondering when he’d wake up from this nightmare. But he never did. And here we are.
There’s no more detail. Not for Willie nor the Eagles.
We know that something happened during a drug test — that urine may or may not have been substituted with a sports drink. That teammates may have been in the room. That things escalated from there and there was enough evidence for ASADA to act.
This is not about Willie being a good bloke, or naïve. It’s not about guilt or innocence. Willie has already admitted fault. West Coast have acknowledged the mistake.
But Willie deserves answers.
Only 24, a father of two children still in nappies, a leader in his community, an example for young men and women in his homeland, and yet he’s got no idea what his future looks like. Give him a ban if that’s what’s coming. Tell him it’s 18 months, or two years, or even four years. Just do something.
Why do we need to put this fragile bloke in a dangerous place?
Studies have proved young men take much of their self-worth from their ability to provide for those close to them.
Why does he need to put his head on the pillow every night wondering what happens next? How many days has he been unable to get out of bed, or go for a run, or be a great father to his kids? He’s lying in the sports equivalent of a guillotine.
Whether Willie was dehydrated, nervous, clumsy, deliberate or — yes — stupid in the moment is irrelevant when discussing the issue.
It’s inexcusable, unfair and extremely dangerous to have such an issue lingering in the void. Willie isn’t the first and he won’t be the last to suffer this treatment from ASADA. They’re a law unto themselves. And it’s not good enough.
 

Goroyals22

Norm Smith Medallist
Jun 29, 2014
5,528
8,783
AFL Club
West Coast
Well thats one of the most emotional loads of rubbish I have read in a long time.

Not everything cones down to mental health, upbringing, community or any other socially engineered buzz word people want to lump in with this.

Yes the wait time is long and probably unnecessary but its no longer than anyone else has had to go through who has had to go through the same process..

Perhaps before he decided to break the rules and smoke cones and be a general smart alec in a serious situation he might have thought of the consequences but ultimately it was a selfish action so he can wait like everyone else.

His saving grace if he probably will end up with missing leas than a full season of footy.hardly a murder sentence


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
Well thats one of the most emotional loads of rubbish I have read in a long time.

Not everything cones down to mental health, upbringing, community or any other socially engineered buzz word people want to lump in with this.

Yes the wait time is long and probably unnecessary but its no longer than anyone else has had to go through who has had to go through the same process..

Perhaps before he decided to break the rules and smoke cones and be a general smart alec in a serious situation he might have thought of the consequences but ultimately it was a selfish action so he can wait like everyone else.

His saving grace if he probably will end up with missing leas than a full season of footy.hardly a murder sentence


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app
 

jatz14

Brownlow Medallist
Dec 13, 2011
11,368
16,074
WA
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
Perth Glory W-League
The right to a speedy trial is a basic human right. There is no doubt this is a failure of decency by ASADA no matter what Willie has done. Why this is acceoptable is completely beyond me?
ASADA isn't a nation. They do not have judges, it isn't a trial, he isn't going to prison. It isn't a human rights issue.

On moto g(6) plus using BigFooty.com mobile app
 

FreeTK

Premiership Player
Oct 2, 2019
4,781
8,822
AFL Club
West Coast
The article mentions the possibility that there were other players in the room with Willie during his test.

If that is true, how does that stand with ASADA’s / WADA’s testing regulations?


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

Wasn't is reported initially that Shuey was involved/aware/in the vicinity at the time?
 
Mar 19, 2020
12,104
38,298
AFL Club
West Coast
ASADA isn't a nation. They do not have judges, it isn't a trial, he isn't going to prison. It isn't a human rights issue.

On moto g(6) plus using BigFooty.com mobile app

Its a Employment rights issue. If I sent you home without pay pending a investigation into your email account, how would you be 8 months later when Ive done nothing and you are still at home doing nothing? Im pretty sure you could sue the s**t out of me and id lose the case for negligence
 
Back