News Jnr Rioli - He’s back.

[FreeTK]

The West is running an article on Willie with some quotes from Nic.





Speaking last night, Naitanui said he speaks to Rioli every other week. Last month, the Eagles said they were hoping for a hearing date “later this year”.

“Fingers crossed he gets some sort of knowledge of what’s happening with him over the next few months,” Naitanui said.

“If he does come back into the team I’m sure he’ll slot back in pretty comfortably, but for him, I think mentally he just wants to know what’s going on with his footy career but also what he can plan on for the rest of his life.

“It’s been a tough probably 12 months for him watching on. He hasn’t been able to train with anyone, he’s just been on his own, running and doing weights by himself.”

Time to end Rioli limbo, says Nic Nat

Nic Naitanui has joined the growing chorus calling for clarity around the future of suspended West Coast forward Willie Rioli, saying it was not only important for his career, but for his life.

thewest.com.au

 

[salo]

I am probably being overly optimistic but I just can't believe he will get 4 years. That is the end of a professional career in any sport at just about any age. Is that really the desired goal for ASADA and the AFL? Some sports cheats certainly deserve a whack like that but Willie's situation is plainly different.
A serious organisation might even look at it as a flaw in their testing process that needs fixing.

 

[squashface]

2 years is my thoughts but as that would potentially put him available for the 2021 Finals Series, I suspect that they would want maybe 30 months? Has him available for the 2022 season.

 

[THE A5]

2 years is my thoughts but as that would potentially put him available for the 2021 Finals Series, I suspect that they would want maybe 30 months? Has him available for the 2022 season.

I actually don't think finals would be a huge factor. Missing 2 years of footy plus training with the team would put him so far from a finals team. Not even Prime buddy would play finals off the back of that.

 

[Doashuey]

I actually don't think finals would be a huge factor. Missing 2 years of footy plus training with the team would put him so far from a finals team. Not even Prime buddy would play finals off the back of that.

As long as he has a reasonable level of fitness (sounds like he is working hard on it), he would easily slot in as soon as available. A fat overweight Willy that hasnt touched a footy in 2 years would still do infinitely more damage than any of Ainsworth Ahchee or Petch. He is so highly skilled that he is best 22 in our current team with absolutely no training.

 

[FreeTK]

2 years is my thoughts but as that would potentially put him available for the 2021 Finals Series, I suspect that they would want maybe 30 months? Has him available for the 2022 season.

Willie is not playing one month after returning to the club.

I know there is footage of him working out and having a kick, but being on your own, or with mates doing self directed fitness program is not the same as being connected to a club and having a fitness program under the guidance of a strength and conditioning team.

Remember how scratchy the guys were at the start of season resumption? That was off the back off a 3 month break with a 2 week pre-season.

Willie would have had 18 months minimum away from the club by time this gets finalised.

He will need a 6 week pre-season minimum, and given his time away from the club the S&C guys will build him up slowly to minimise the risk of him injuring himself, and he may need to return to the team via the WAFL, or in the absence of a second tier comp, scratch matches.

 

[southcoast]

He can train with a club up until he gets officially banned. After that, he can't train with any official club in any league until one month before the ban ends. Conceivably, he could have been training with the Eagles all of this year, but I guess they deemed that not worth the effort, especially with COVID restrictions etc.

My understanding is the decision to suspend Willie from all training was so any sentence imposed will include the time already served as a ‘self-imposed’ suspension.

If he trained that would not be part of the self-imposed period.


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[InTheWings]

My understanding is the decision to suspend Willie from all training was so any sentence imposed will include the time already served as a ‘self-imposed’ suspension.

If he trained that would not be part of the self-imposed period.


Sent from my iPad using BigFooty.com

That would make sense I guess, though he trained with the club for two weeks in January this year. Does that mean any back dating of the suspension would start from January this year and not August/September last year?


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[JohnW]

Willie is not playing one month after returning to the club.

I know there is footage of him working out and having a kick, but being on your own, or with mates doing self directed fitness program is not the same as being connected to a club and having a fitness program under the guidance of a strength and conditioning team.

Remember how scratchy the guys were at the start of season resumption? That was off the back off a 3 month break with a 2 week pre-season.

Willie would have had 18 months minimum away from the club by time this gets finalised.

He will need a 6 week pre-season minimum, and given his time away from the club the S&C guys will build him up slowly to minimise the risk of him injuring himself, and he may need to return to the team via the WAFL, or in the absence of a second tier comp, scratch matches.

Cant he come back into club training 1 month before his official ban ends?

 

[kerrazy]

What if the club sent a personal trainer to him? Would that count as training within the club? Could keep him fit while he is away and prevent him from gettin phat

 

[ChampRevesby]

The West is running an article on Willie with some quotes from Nic.

View attachment 979916



Speaking last night, Naitanui said he speaks to Rioli every other week. Last month, the Eagles said they were hoping for a hearing date “later this year”.

“Fingers crossed he gets some sort of knowledge of what’s happening with him over the next few months,” Naitanui said.

“If he does come back into the team I’m sure he’ll slot back in pretty comfortably, but for him, I think mentally he just wants to know what’s going on with his footy career but also what he can plan on for the rest of his life.

“It’s been a tough probably 12 months for him watching on. He hasn’t been able to train with anyone, he’s just been on his own, running and doing weights by himself.”

Time to end Rioli limbo, says Nic Nat

Nic Naitanui has joined the growing chorus calling for clarity around the future of suspended West Coast forward Willie Rioli, saying it was not only important for his career, but for his life.

thewest.com.au

Willie looking fit. I hope he gets another chance, but he has to do his time...

 

[MIKE85]

That photo is from way back. Haven’t seen anything recent

 

[Wild Kelly]

Willie looking fit. I hope he gets another chance, but he has to do his time...

This whole debacle is like Willie's left nut ..... it ain't fair and it ain't right!

 

[Dark2Light]

Willie will be there Round 1.
Watch the Water. 3GD.
He may not even go to court.
General Flynn, Julian Assange & Willie Rioli
All in the same boat. One in the same.

 

[Biggie]

Willie will be there Round 1.
Watch the Water. 3GD.
He may not even go to court.
General Flynn, Julian Assange & Willie Rioli
All in the same boat. One in the same.

 

[shooshka]

That would make sense I guess, though he trained with the club for two weeks in January this year. Does that mean any back dating of the suspension would start from January this year and not August/September last year?


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Nope, as the suspension is provisional he can't compete in official competition but is allowed to train at the club (once any suspension is official he cannot attend the club or games, but can rejoin training 1 month prior to the end of the suspension). His suspension will be backdated to the week of the Geelong final.

Theoretically I think he could have played in scrimmages this year (but for a number of reasons didn't...) as they were more scratch match than official competition.

On SM-G973F using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Godfather32]

The ducks are on the pond

 

[bluegold]

Willie will be there Round 1.
Watch the Water. 3GD.
He may not even go to court.
General Flynn, Julian Assange & Willie Rioli
All in the same boat. One in the same.

WWG1WGA

 

[DirtySandman]

but is allowed to train at the club

I’d be more optimistic in his future if he did, I see it as not wanting to face the media, after a few weeks the media frenzy would have blown over , s**t 2020 has been a great year in terms of other distractions.

I’m thinking 2-4.

 

[TheGhostOfJohnBelushi]

I am probably being overly optimistic but I just can't believe he will get 4 years. That is the end of a professional career in any sport at just about any age. Is that really the desired goal for ASADA and the AFL? Some sports cheats certainly deserve a whack like that but Willie's situation is plainly different.
A serious organisation might even look at it as a flaw in their testing process that needs fixing.

I've posted this before but in my mind, using a bit of logic, 4 years seems like something set as a maximum in order to penalise athletes who's highest arena of competition is in a 4 yearly cycle - ie. Olympics. My thinking is that it would be a slap on the wrist if an Olympian is found guilty of PEDs, then doesn't actually miss their competitive goal, so a max of 4 years ensures this can be covered if necessary. For athletes in yearly competitions, it would be such an over the top penalty in comparison to miss 4 years of their career.

 

[FreeTK]

I've posted this before but in my mind, using a bit of logic, 4 years seems like something set as a maximum in order to penalise athletes who's highest arena of competition is in a 4 yearly cycle - ie. Olympics. My thinking is that it would be a slap on the wrist if an Olympian is found guilty of PEDs, then doesn't actually miss their competitive goal, so a max of 4 years ensures this can be covered if necessary. For athletes in yearly competitions, it would be such an over the top penalty in comparison to miss 4 years of their career.

There are two element to this and it goes to the definition of "intentional". An intentional act is max 4 years, deemed to be not intentional is max 2 years. Once the maximum is determined by proving intention one way or the other, mitigating circumstances can then reduce the penalty further.

i.e. if Willie's actions were deemed not intentional, the starting point would be two years and compelling circumstances may reduce that further to say 18 months.

Under the WADA code intentional is defined as:

"10.2.3 As used in Articles 10.2 and 10.3, the term “intentional”meant to identify those Athletes who cheat. The term, therefore, requires that the Athlete or other Person engaged in conduct which he or she knew constituted an anti-doping rule violation or knew that there was a significant risk that the conduct might constitute or result in an anti-doping rule violation and manifestly disregarded that risk. An anti-doping rule violation resulting from an Adverse Analytical Finding for a substance which is only prohibited In-Competition shall be rebuttably presumed to be not “intentional” if the substance is a Specified Substance and the Athlete can establish that the Prohibited Substance was Used Out-of-Competition." (page 61)

The above definition has implications for Willie both in terms of the tampering and the adverse analytical finding for cannabis, and there is a likelihood that the two actions of Willie's are actually linked.

Essentially Willie needs to prove that his actions around tampering were not intentional and he committed the violation for reasons other than obfuscating cheating, while conversely the weed is considered not intentional, unless ASADA can prove he took weed for performance enhancing reasons (LOL).

It's incredibly complex even if we had all the facts given the strange nature of Willie's adverse analytical finding. Reality is we don't so it is almost impossible to get a true gauge on what will happen.

https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/wada_anti-doping_code_2018_english_final.pdf

 

[Trebor57]

There are two element to this and it goes to the definition of "intentional". An intentional act is max 4 years, deemed to be not intentional is max 2 years. Once the maximum is determined by proving intention one way or the other, mitigating circumstances can then reduce the penalty further.

When you say 'An intentional act is max 4 years,...' does that mean that he could be found guilty of an intentional act but still get a lesser penalty than that (4 years). Similar to what occurs with so many offences under the Criminal Code for example that carry a maximum penalty of x, but the sentencing judge determines the starting point, which in my experience is almost never the maximum penalty, and then reduces that further for any mitigating circumstances.

 

[FreeTK]

When you say 'An intentional act is max 4 years,...' does that mean that he could be found guilty of an intentional act but still get a lesser penalty than that (4 years). Similar to what occurs with so many offences under the Criminal Code for example that carry a maximum penalty of x, but the sentencing judge determines the starting point, which in my experience is almost never the maximum penalty, and then reduces that further for any mitigating circumstances.

Yes, exactly.

 

[BlueandGoldforever]

When you say 'An intentional act is max 4 years,...' does that mean that he could be found guilty of an intentional act but still get a lesser penalty than that (4 years). Similar to what occurs with so many offences under the Criminal Code for example that carry a maximum penalty of x, but the sentencing judge determines the starting point, which in my experience is almost never the maximum penalty, and then reduces that further for any mitigating circumstances.

I think you are right in your assessment. Mitigating circumstances always play a part in sentence allocation.

 

[DirtySandman]

The only way you can argue this wasn’t intentional, was that he was high af.