‘No pressure!’ The young Rioli about to grace the AFL’s biggest stage

When Maurice Rioli has a bad game, he watches highlights of Maurice Rioli.

This isn’t another AFL player talking in the third person: Maurice Rioli jnr looks up old clips of his dad, Maurice Rioli snr, the man who forged a path for the extended family, whose members have had the biggest impact in finals of any family in the history of the game.

The young Richmond player looks like his dad, though he doesn’t play like him. But then he isn’t searching for football tips, he just likes watching his dad play. It makes him happy.

Maurice Rioli jnr will make his first AFL finals appearance against the Lions at the Gabba.Credit:Jason South

Maurice jnr, MJ, always learnt from watching. Maurice snr didn’t talk footy much and on the Tiwi Islands, especially when you are a Rioli, it isn’t so much taught as understood.

Maurice Rioli after a game in April, 1982.Credit:The Age

“I watch a fair bit of his highlights when I feel like I have had a terrible game. That is something I do, I always go to his highlights now and then,” Rioli said.

“I just look at them. It’s just something that gets me up, makes me happy watching his highlights. Obviously I’m not the same player as him but the way he played footy was just smooth. Just loved watching it.

“He never really spoke about footy with us. Our family never really speak about footy or how good we are as a player or anything, they pretty much tell you how proud they are and send you a message. They would never talk about footy with him, just talk about life, fishing, hunting.”

Except for Uncle Johnny. He never shuts up.

“He always talks about how he is one of the best goalkickers in Australia. I went up home with a few of the boys, Tom Lynch, and he [Uncle Johnny] was telling us all he was the best goalkicker in Australia. He tells me he is, so I’ll back him in.

“He is the only Rioli that talks about how good a player he is.” Rioli has a very enthusiastic laugh at this.

Rioli doesn’t need to pull out clips of his dad this week; he has not had a terrible game. In fact, far from it. He’s been playing well. But he should take a look, just to watch his dad glide, to see him scythe through Carlton in the 1982 grand final. He played a hell of a game, even won the Norm Smith Medal, but his team lost. He was the first player to win the medal in a losing team.

The Rioli name is indelibly linked with finals. No family has had a bigger impact in the biggest games of the year. Not even the Abletts.

Between them Riolis have eight premiership medals and two Norm Smiths, with Maurice jnr’s cousin Cyril winning the same award Maurice snr won. His other cousin, Junior, was influential in the Eagles’ 2018 flag and his nephew and teammate Daniel – who is five years older – has three flags with the Tigers. Suffice to say, the Riolis like the big stage.

But it all began with probably the best player of all of them, the only genuine midfielder of them all, Maurice snr. And now it’s his son’s turn.

Daniel Rioli has enjoyed a resurgent season in 2022.Credit:AFL Photos

“It is exciting, my first finals footy in AFL, something I am looking forward to. Playing with Daniel, one of his best games was in the finals against GWS, he kicked four goals,” Rioli said.

“There’s a bit going on I reckon when it comes to finals with the Riolis. Have to see how I go now on Thursday. Yeah, no pressure! Nah, I’ll stick to the way I play and let the outcome take care of itself.”

This is the lesson he has learnt this year. After spending last year fitting into what Richmond does and understanding their structure and plans, now he feels he understands it naturally enough to be free to play his own game.

“That is one thing I changed going into this year to pretty much just play natural footy, natural instincts. They pretty much tell us to play footy the way you want to play it. I just bring myself back and go to instinct and just play on instinct. That is where I find myself playing good footy and showing them this is how I play and if I keep playing this way I will hopefully stay in the squad long term,” he said.

FINALS ROYALTY

The Riolis have played in eight VFL/AFL premierships and won two Norm Smith Medals. They are the best finals family in the game. Every AFL team that has drafted a Rioli has won a flag within three years.

• 1990: Hawks draft Willie snr, win 1991 flag.
• 1998: Essendon rookie list Dean, win 2000 flag.
• 2007: Hawthorn draft Cyril, who wins the first of four flags in 2008. He wins the Norm Smith Medal in 2015.
• 2015: Richmond select Daniel, who wins the first of his three flags in 2017.
• 2016: West Coast draft Junior, win the 2018 flag.
• 2020: Maurice jnr is taken as a father-son selection by Richmond. 

Before all of them and before the draft system, Maurice Rioli snr arrived at Richmond in 1982. They made the grand final that year and he became the first player to win the Norm Smith Medal in a losing team. He never won a premiership.

For an inventive player, the aspect that gives Rioli the most joy is not that creative at all. It is the moment of doing something small that has a big consequence. He likes to tackle.

For those who have watched him this will come as little surprise. Rioli has incredible speed and timing to run down opponents. It is also little surprise to learn that favourite things to do at home on the Tiwi are hunting and fishing – he is a natural poacher.

“I love chasing someone down. It is very exciting for me. I reckon there is nothing else to beat it. Nothing beats it, getting a turnover. I love it, chasing someone down, bringing them down to the ground, getting reward for it. That’s a good feeling,” he said.

“It comes naturally. I see it and then like I am there, it is an amazing feeling, like ‘I got him’.”

When pressed, he has a couple of favourites.

Maurice Rioli jnr gets a laugh out of coach Damien Hardwick at training this week.Credit:Getty Images

“I liked the [Nick] Daicos one [in round eight this year], I timed that pretty well and the Fremantle one as well, I forgot his name, [Travis] Colyer is it? He is quick and I got him. I reckon those two stick in my mind.

“I love the result of tackling someone and getting a holding the ball, dropping the ball from a chase down. It’s my strength, something I am good at. It’s exciting and I love that. We celebrate the little things at the club. I love the way my teammates get around me or if it’s something they do, get a fingertip on the ball everyone celebrates it. I love that.”

Rioli, who turns 20 on Thursday, spent his school years at Scotch College in Melbourne living with a host family with whom he is still very close and sharing his time with his nephew and teammate Daniel.

Damien Hardwick moved Daniel to the back line this year in a shift that has been one of the best coaching positional changes of the year. Daniel has reinvented his game and salvaged his career. Maurice jnr laughs that it was down to him, not Hardwick.

“We always make a joke about that – I kicked him out of the forward line down back. I am happy how he has gone this year. I am really proud how far he has come after a while in and out of the squad. This year he has kept his spot and shown he really is one of the best half-backs in the league.

“He still gets forward and is always looking for those long ones [shots at goal], he always tells me if he has got it at the 50 he is always going to have a shot.

“If he marks it on the 50 you know he is going to have a shot no matter what. If he marks it there I am just pointing at the goals.”

Like Daniel moving to the half-back line, Rioli wonders about one day moving up the ground into the midfield like his dad.

“Sometime in the future if the coaches see me there I’d love to go in the midfield. I don’t know when that would be, but I reckon if I get more experience in the contest, get my fitness up, hopefully one day I will be up there. But for now I am happy in the forward line with Daniel kicking it to me off half-back.”

From Rioli to Rioli, it’s a pretty well-trodden path to an AFL premiership.

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