West Coast forward Willie Rioli was caught out by ASADA ‘SWAT operation’

West Coast forward Willie Rioli would have been blindsided when he was seized upon by ASADA officials and there’s no way he would have gotten away with tampering his sample during a rigid process.

West Coast’s Willie Rioli. Picture: Michael Klein

Willie Rioli was caught out by what ASADA officers call a “mission”.

It was Tuesday, August 20, on a training day in Perth when Rioli got the tap.

Rioli would have been turning his mind to the final round meeting with Hawthorn and a bid for the top four.

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Instead he was blindsided.

“You’re up,” the players are told as the drug testers swoop.

“It’s a bit of a SWAT operation because you go in there and almost pounce on your targets with some gusto,” a source said.

The ASADA team set up a Doping Control Station — most likely in an unused office at a football club.

It’s here the team leader, the Doping Control Officer (DCO), tells his lieutenants who they are targeting.

There is one chaperone, or “tag”, for every player.

“It’s one chaperone, 100 per cent per athlete, so they cannot evade,” the source said.

“There is no opportunity to tamper with the sample and get away with it.”

Willie Rioli would have been blindsided when approached by ASADA officials. Picture: AFL Photos

The process would start when Rioli’s name was nominated by Sports Operating Officers in Canberra and then sent to Montreal, where it was entered into the WADA database.

Documentation was sent back to Australia before Rioli was tested.

In Perth, testers gave Rioli paperwork concerning his rights and responsibilities before he signed a Doping Control Form.

The Eagles forward was then given a beaker and told to wash his hands without soap to avoid contamination.

He was escorted to the bathroom by his tag, instructed to open the beaker from the back and pull it backwards so his fingers don’t touch the insides.

Rioli was told to pull his pants down to his ankles or his shorts down to his knees and to pull his shirt up to his midriff.

“That’s so we can see if there’s any tubes. There can’t be anything hidden,” the source said.

“The chaperone then physically watches the sample leave his body.”

Matthew Lloyd said West Coast’s football manager, Craig Vozzo, would’ve pulled out about three random numbers from ASADA testers on August 20, with those jumper numbers booked for testing.

Lloyd said the ASADA tester then would’ve shadowed Rioli everywhere – be it for a massage or in a team meeting – leaving the Essendon champion dumbfounded at how the test irregularity occurred.

“(You drop your) strides around the ankles and he’s watching you. So there’s no way you can get away with putting something in the cup,” Lloyd said on 3AW.

“It’s that thorough.”

Rioli was required to provide a urine sample of at least 90mm in a 200mm beaker and must empty his bladder completely.

Rioli has to pour the contents of his beaker into an A and B bottle, under supervision, and remains in control of his sample at all times while they are open so there is no risk of contamination.

But somewhere in this rigid process the testers have busted Rioli substituting his urine with another liquid believed to be a sports drink.

Even then the A and B bottles — known as a Berlinger security bottle — would have been secured with a special lid that can only be opened in a lab with a designated machine.

They are sealed into a little plastic bag and put in a cardbaoard box for transport.

Rioli’s journey through anti-doping hell has just begun.

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