West Coast Eagles forward Willie Rioli tests positive to banned substance in second drug test

West Coast forward Willie Rioli has been hit with a disastrous positive drug test two weeks after he tampered with a urine sample, but a quirk in ASADA rules could save his AFL career.

Willie Rioli has tested positive to a banned drug.

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Willie Rioli could still save his AFL career by serving concurrent sentences despite his shock cannabis match-day positive from West Coast’s elimination final victory.

The league announced traces of cannabis were found in a match-day positive on September 5, just over two weeks after he tampered with a urine sample on August 20.

It is a disastrous development for Rioli, already reeling from the fallout of his provisional ban from the earlier ASADA test.

But it also confirms suspicions over why he tampered with his initial sample, replacing his urine with Gatorade, as revealed by the Herald Sun.

AFL and club officials had believed for several weeks that Rioli was attempting to hide marijuana use when ASADA drug-tested him.

In a moment of panic he did not realise the ASADA testers taking a sample on a Tuesday were not testing for illicit drugs like marijuana.

Former ASADA boss Richard Ings told the Herald Sun that Rioli would normally only receive a few months for a cannabis match-day ban.

But there is serious fallout from that cannabis positive because it shows he was potentially trying to dodge a positive test on August 20 rather than just indulging in a practical joke gone wrong.

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Willie Rioli has tested positive to a banned drug.

Because he had not been notified of the issue from the August 20 tampering allegation he will not have to serve both penalties back-to-back.

“You have to be notified of the first test before you have committed the next one, so it’s still one offence,” Ings said.

“Should either be upheld it is the most serious of the matters that would determine the sanction.

“Historically, athletes in other sports have returned cannabis bans of as little as a few months but the allegations of urine substitution tend to carry much more significant bans.”

Illicit drugs are considered performance-enhancing on match day, and can result in four-year suspensions when players are caught by ASADA.

The tampering allegation is still at the most serious end of the scale, but if the 24-year-old can access some discount on the maximum four-year ban his career could still be alive.

While the league back in 2012 had considered removing cannabis from its banned list, there is no current move to take it off the prohibited list.

Rioli is facing a long time out of the game. Picture: Getty

It means Rioli, contracted for the next three years and likely to still be on the Eagles list next year until his anti-doping hearings, has put his career in severe jeopardy.

The US anti-doping website states that cannabis can still be performance-enhancing despite it decreasing hand-eye coordination.

“Cannabis can cause muscle relaxation and reduce pain during post-workout recovery,” it says.

“It can also decrease anxiety and tension, resulting in better sport performance under pressure.

“In addition, cannabis can increase focus and risk-taking behaviours, allowing athletes to forget bad falls or previous trauma in sport, and push themselves past those fears in competition.”

Rioli has been staying in the Northern Territory with family and as of last week was yet to meet his lawyer David Grace to discuss the circumstances of the tampering case.

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Some critics had wondered why he was even playing in the elimination final but ASADA had expedited the tampering case and was seen to have hurried the resolution of his A and B samples.

West Coast only accepted a provisional suspension for Rioli two days before the club’s semi-final loss to Geelong when ASADA confronted them about the tampering.

The club said in a statement on Tuesday:

“The West Coast Eagles have recently been made aware that a sample taken from Willie Rioli has tested positive for a metabolite of cannabis.

“As stipulated two weeks ago, the club’s primary concern remains the health and wellbeing of Willie. We will continue to support him through this particularly challenging time to assist him while this ongoing investigation runs its course.

“The club will respect the process of the investigation into the circumstances surrounding this case and will co-operate fully with it.

“We expect that these processes will take some months to complete and the club will not be in a position to make further comment until such completion.”

Originally published as West Coast Eagles forward Willie Rioli tests positive to banned substance in second drug test