AFL draft 2020: Richmond could get Maurice Rioli Jr for a late draft pick
Private testing has Richmond very excited about father-son prospect Maurice Rioli Jr. But there is still one big unknown about the father-son gun.
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Richmond will dare to believe it can use a late draft pick on father-son selection Maurice Rioli Jr, who is flying into Melbourne this weekend.
The Tigers will welcome back their first-to-fourth year players on Monday, with Rioli set to join them as early as Thursday.
It comes as the AFL confirmed to the Herald Sun that banned Tigers Sydney Stack and Callum Coleman-Jones can play VFL and pre-season games until their suspensions for COVID breaches expire after Round 4.
Rioli has been living on the Tiwi Islands after being forced to return home from a Melbourne boarding school because of the COVID-19 crisis then surviving a bizarre plover attack as he recorded physical testing in front of AFL officials.
The son of 1982 Norm Smith medallist Maurice Rioli has been under the watchful eyes of Richmond all year.
Following his aborted 400m time-trial, the Tigers have done their own testing which shows his speed is up there with anyone at the club.
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He played only a handful of Northern Territory games this year but his talent has shone out.
What is not known is how highly rivals judge his talent in a draft in which a limited number of players have exposed 2020 form.
Talent watchers do not believe he will be taken off the board early in the draft, which could allow the Tigers to take multiple selections before they match a bid for the freakish Indigenous talent.
Richmond has selections 17, 36, 61, 79 and 97 and despite Rioli being linked to Fremantle given his father’s WAFL days, he has chosen the Tigers as his preferred club.
Like his relatives Cyril Rioli and soon-to-be Richmond teammate Daniel Rioli, he boarded at Scotch College.
He is a good mate of fellow Scotch boarder and likely No.1 overall selection Jamarra Ugle-Hagan.
As the Tigers’ kickstart their quest for a premiership three-peat, their welfare team will ensure Stack is supported with AFL football still almost five months away.
Stack is in reasonable physical shape but after being booted from Queensland, and missing a possible AFL premiership, he also lost his grandfather soon after returning to WA.
Richmond will surround him with significant support to ensure he remains disciplined and can maximise his AFL career.
The lure of pre-season football is seen as critical for Stack given he will only be allowed to return to elite football in late April after he and Coleman-Jones left a Gold Coast strip club and were involved in a fight outside a kebab shop in September.
But with intra-club games set to start in February for clubs before the pre-season series, that carrot of competitive football will be a strong part of his return.
HOW MUCH PAY CUTS WILL STING FUTURE STARS
Footy’s COVID-19 financial cutbacks will hit the next wave of AFL stars.
The top 20 players selected in next Wednesday night’s national draft will have their base wage cut to $90,000 next season as well as losing incentive payments for reaching senior game triggers.
The AFL and the AFL Players’ Association agreed to the changes as part of a revised collective bargaining agreement, given the significant revenue losses which have come about due to the pandemic.
The top 20 picks had originally been expected to earn $100,000 as a base, plus incentives up to a maximum of $12,000 for reaching triggers of senior matches in their debut seasons.
But that has now been scaled back to $90,000, with players selected from picks 21-40 to receive a base of $82,500 (down almost $8000) and those chosen after selection 40 will earn an $80,000 base (down $5000).
First-year players will be paid $4000 per senior match next season, but the extra incentive for reaching triggers has been withdrawn.
This comes as AFL clubs work desperately to deal with the squeeze on total player payments heading into 2021.
WHY DRAFT REJECTS SHOULDN’T GIVE UP
Draft hopefuls have been urged not to give up on their AFL dream if they are overlooked in a draft expected to be dominated by academy and zone selections.
It has been forecast as few as 40-50 live picks could be used in next Tuesday’s national draft, while many clubs have committed to retaining delisted players as rookies.
AFL talent boss Kevin Sheehan said some Victorians would be “very unlucky” to miss out after being robbed of their NAB League seasons.
Victoria’s under-18 competition — which accounts for more than 50 per of the draft class each year — was postponed and then suspended the second wave of COVID-19 escalated in Victoria.
It robbed late developers — or those who missed out on NAB League selection last season – of the chance to press their draft claims.
Giants livewire Toby Greene (taken at pick 11 in the 2011 National Draft) and Bulldogs midfield stars Marcus Bontempelli (pick No. 4 in 2014) and Jack Macrae (pick No. 6 in 2012) rocketed up draft boards in the later stages of their draft year after modest returns as bottom-agers.
Melbourne’s Clayton Oliver (pick No. 4 in 2015) is another example of an AFL star who only blossomed in his last year of underage football.
The NAB League and the national championships — which pits the best young talent from each state against each other — will both be under-19s competitions in 2021.
“It’s the same as every other year in the respect that it’s the first time you’re up, not the only time you’re up,” Sheehan told the Herald Sun.
“Some will be very unlucky, they will have needed this 18th year to show their wares.
“We will have under-19 national championships, under-19 NAB League here in Victoria giving those boys the chance — if they need it –— to stay down or they can push up to state league level and play some senior footy as well.”
The top prospects from Vic Country and Vic Metro – including No. 1 draft fancies Elijah Hollands and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan — trained in Melbourne on Wednesday in front of recruiters.
“Obviously we hope that everyone gets drafted but the reality is that’s not to happen for some,” AFL academy head coach Tarkyn Lockyer said.
“That’s OK as well. The under-19s competition next year will be another good opportunity people to show their wares and we hope that it’s another pathway to still get back into the draft.”
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