Fevola and Rioli make a dream team as next AFL ‘it’ couple
THEY’RE both from famous football families, but Mia Fevola and Daniel Rioli are now making their own mark together. Rioli shares what it’s like living with footy legend Brendan Fevola, while Mia opens up about the effect of her dad’s fall from grace on their family.
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TWO of the biggest names of the AFL — Rioli and Fevola — have joined forces, but not in the way you would expect.
Richmond rising star Daniel Rioli — nephew of greats Maurice and Dean, and cousin to Cyril and Willie Rioli as well as legend Michael Long — and Mia Fevola, daughter of Coleman medallist Brendan, have fallen in love and have been dating for eight months.
Their connection was almost instant after meeting through a mutual friend and they have grown close quickly.
They now live together with the rest of the Fevola family — Brendan, mum Alex and sisters Leni and Lulu.
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“We’ve clicked so much, we understand each other,” Mia, 18, says.
Daniel, 21, adds, “I just love how we have fun and be ourselves around each other. She’s already figured me out, she’s taught me a few things. I’m lucky to have her.”
While many AFL couples enjoy attending A-list events, the couple have remained low-key and are content spending quiet time together.
“We’re not really going out kind of people, we don’t really drink or anything. We like brunching and that kind of thing,” Mia says.
“It’s hard when you’re out because people are always watching, especially with you (Daniel) everyone is watching when we walk through shopping centres.
“It’s hard because you have to act mature and not do anything silly, but when we’re together we obviously have a lot more fun and can be ourselves.”
The pair, who have a relaxed and easy rapport, are looking forward to stepping out together when Mia takes on the role as Chadstone fashion ambassador at Polo in the City in Albert Park in December and Twilight Beach Polo in St Kilda in February.
“I’m really excited because I’ve never done anything like that before,” Mia says.
“I’m excited to see the fashion — it’s very different to racing, it’s more my style.
“Polo is more up my alley. I’m not really a stiletto type of girl, I’m more about comfort and practicality.”
Daniel is excited to be heading out with Mia to a fun Melbourne event.
“I’m pretty casual but I don’t mind dressing up. To do something different, to go to an event like this will be fun,” he says.
“I’m looking forward to it. I’m pretty low-key, I don’t really like to go out and show myself to people. I think this will give me confidence to do more.”
Daniel, who lived with Tigers coach Damian Hardwick’s family for three years until earlier this year, says living under the same roof as Carlton and Brisbane champion Brendan has been fantastic for him as a player and a person.
“He’s been a great help to me, to just be confident, and now I’m confident in being myself,” Daniel says.
“Even in the finals series, he would tell me little jokes about how he went about his footy. He was a very special player back then, so why not learn from him?
“It’s amazing going from living with the coach to moving in with a player who almost kicked 100 goals in a season and he was one of the best players in the competition. To be under his roof is pretty special and I do pinch myself.
“My mum rang me up saying, ‘I want to meet him’ because she loved him as well.
“To be involved with his family is amazing and I’m enjoying my time.”
Mia says the pair have busy lives. She is studying marketing at RMIT full-time, as well as being a brand ambassador and working as a make-up artist for mum Alex’s Runway Room business.
“I didn’t ever think that this young I would be living with my boyfriend and that quickly,” she says.
“A lot of my friends say, ‘Do you get sick of each other?’, but we have our own space, we’re so used to it now.”
Daniel enjoys not only getting footy advice from Brendan, but says he makes a mean roast.
“Brendan is a good cook. He loves cooking. I’d give him a 10, he’s pretty special,” he says.
It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for either Mia or Daniel, with both enduring challenges in their teenage years.
Brendan, Mia’s stepfather, had a well-documented and public fall from grace at the end of his AFL career, openly admitting to drinking and gambling problems. He spent almost three years separated from Alex.
But, in what has become a fairytale turnaround, Brendan has found redemption publicly and in his private life.
His appearance and ultimate victory on reality show I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! in 2016 changed the public perception of him and showed his deep love for his family and gratitude for being given a second chance.
It led to him reuniting with Alex, with whom he is expecting a baby girl in a month, and a gig on top-rating Fox FM breakfast radio show Fifi, Fev & Byron with Fifi Box and Byron Cooke.
“It was hard in a way, people saying things, but my family has always been close, even in the hard times,” Mia says.
“We’ve always been a strong family. Even when my parents had split up, all of us we were close with each of them.
“Mum met Dad when I was three. All I can remember is him being my dad. He’s been amazing, he’s the only dad I consider my dad. He has done everything for me, he still would do anything. He’s a really good dad to all of us.
“He has changed, he really appreciates the smaller things now. He’s at a place where he put all that behind him and he’s settled down.
“He’s so over the moon about having the baby, he’s already saying we’re going to have another one and have a boy,” she jokes.
Mia is incredibly close to Alex and has much admiration for the way her mother has built her business and raised the family.
“She is definitely a role model in my life,” she says.
“I always look up to her with everything and she helps me with everything.
“If I’m stressed about anything, she always brings me back down. She definitely plays a big part in my life.”
Daniel’s teenage years were unlike most, moving from his home in the Tiwi Islands at the age of 14 to Ballarat, where he earned a football scholarship at St Patrick’s College.
“I had no idea where Ballarat was at the start,” he says.
“I remember catching the shuttle bus and I had a singlet, shorts and thongs on and freezing. I got to Ballarat and it was minus two and I thought, ‘What am I doing here?’
“Moving from a small community, where it’s nice and warm and everyone knows each other, to going to Ballarat, where it was cold and not knowing many people, it was tough at the time.
“But luckily enough I got a footy scholarship to go there. That’s where I made my close mates from my footy.”
Daniel took inspiration from his trailblazing uncles and cousins, and the advice of his mum, and made the most of the experience.
“Mum and Dad told me to just go because Cyril went to Scotch (College) by himself,” he says. “Mum was like, ‘If you want to play AFL, you need to get away from home and try and follow in Cyril’s footsteps and hopefully pursue your dream’.”
Daniel says his first year after being drafted to Richmond in 2016 was hard as the team struggled to find form.
“There’s thoughts in your head like, ‘Did I live up to the name?’ And then my second year came along and we did OK and went on to win the premiership,” he says.
“You get fans and close friends saying, ‘You played like your uncle, you’ve got a similar style’, and that kind of gets you a little bit motivated and excited.
“But before everything started, I always said to myself, ‘That’s the way they play, they all had their own style’ and I said that I’m just going to play my own brand of footy.”
Daniel has headed home to the Tiwi Islands to spend time with his family during the off-season and then will take Mia back to Darwin in January to meet them all.
“I’ve never been, it looks beautiful,” Mia says.
“Some of his family came down for the finals period and I saw them at games, but I’m looking forward to seeing Daniel’s home and meeting more of his family.”
Daniel relishes his visits home, where he is “just Daniel” and can soak up the sun, fish and enjoy relaxing time with extended family.
“Being an AFL player here, everyone swarms you and wants a photo, but back home it’s completely different — everyone knows me as Daniel, not the footy player,” he says.
“It’s so low-key, everyone is so close and they don’t treat me like a footy player. I get home and I’m just Daniel.
“I don’t stress at all when I get home, it’s pretty chill. That’s what I’m looking forward to, doing a lot of fishing and chasing the sun.”
Keeping a low profile has been hard after the Tigers’ incredible 2017 Grand Final victory, but also because his name now pops up on radio and on Brendan’s entertaining Instagram feed on a regular basis.
“He can be a bit embarrassing sometimes, especially on Instagram with all the videos and things,” Mia says of her dad.
“I think Mum gets it the worst when she’s in her pyjamas and pregnant — she’s so embarrassed — but he never really does anything like that to us. He’s pretty respectful of our privacy.”
Daniel says, “I’ve heard a few things, I’m up pretty early going to training. I’m fine with that getting a mention, but it’s pretty funny at times because I’d rock up to the club and a few of the players would say, ‘Did you hear the radio today?’
“It’s just the way he is, that’s his personality, I have so much respect for him.”
The Fevolas are excitedly awaiting the arrival of the fourth girl into the family and Mia is looking forward to meeting her baby sister.
“I keep saying to Mum, ‘You’re going to have a baby, and if I’m babysitting down the street, people are going to think that’s my baby’,” she says.
“It’s pretty amazing the way things have turned around. That has overpowered everything. You just need each other and that is how we have gotten through it all.”
As Chadstone’s polo ambassador for the season of Polo in the city in Albert Park in December and the Twilight Beach Polo in St Kilda in February, Mia Fevola will be a guest judge for Fashions on the Field at both events.
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