Willie Rioli’s journey from homesick schoolkid to West Coast goalsneak among Grand Final’s best

IN A Grand Final of unique storylines, Eagle Willie Rioli’s transformation from podgy teenager to an AFL goal-kicking wizard ranks with the very best.

West Coast's Willie Rioli. Picture: Michael Klein

IN A Grand Final of rare narratives, Willie Rioli’s transformation from podgy teenager to an AFL goal-kicking wizard ranks with the best.

The tale of a homesick Year 11 boarder at Xavier College who lost 15kg to ensure his dream became reality sits comfortably with a Texas soccer player and former Uber driver in a Grand Final that is all about unusual stories.

If the late Bob Davis was still alive his description of Willie Rioli would have been along the lines of “he can make the ball talk”, such are the foot skills of the young man from the Tiwi Islands whose route to the AFL included Melbourne in 2013, Perth in 2014 and Adelaide in 2015-16.

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As a Rioli, and as such a part of AFL footballing royalty, the journey of 23-year-old Willie has been a far more roundabout one than his cousins Cyril and Daniel.

And it includes a life-threatening pneumonia-related virus at age 16 when he spent more than a month in hospital and was in a coma for nine days. Rioli doesn’t speak about it very often other than to say he was “sick, very, very sick”, and that he still requires a needle once a month.

That was around the time he travelled from the Islands to board at Xavier College, a move his cousin Cyril had successfully made a decade earlier at Scotch College.

Willie Rioli playing in the 2012 under-18 championships.

Willie Rioli playing for West Coast.

Dan Richardson, now with Essendon as general manager of football, coached Rioli in the first eighteen during his Year 11 season with Xavier and recalls a sublime talent.

“He always had great skills, particularly around goal with his kicking ability. Plus he had the lateral movement even if he wasn’t nearly as fit as he is now. There is a significant physical difference,” said Richardson.

“I actually played him off a back flank one day and he played very well for a quarter but blew up. I managed Cyril for a couple of years and worked with Daniel when I was at Richmond, so I’ve been lucky to have known all three cousins.

“They have keen senses of humours and that likeable bit of cheek about them.”

Cam Matthews, who now works as Hawthorn’s player development manager, was also previously employed at Xavier and smiles at his recollections of Willie.

“He was a great kid even if he didn’t go to class very often, He would spend most of his time in our office watching footage of Xavier footy games. A student of the game as distinct from an academic student,” said Matthews.

Willie Rioli in action for St Marys in the NTFL.

|Willie Rioli celebrates a West Coast goal.

“Prior to training he would take a bucket of footballs to the boundary line and put on a highlight show. That’s why every time I watch him have set shot for the Eagles, I think he will kick the goal nine times out of 10. A freak with ball in hand.

“When I first got to Hawthorn, Cyril used to say that Willie was the most talented of the lot. I’m just so pleased he’s been able to find the drive and sacrifice that goes with being an elite sportsman.”

The Riolis will be well represented at the MCG and can point to family history as a compelling reason why Willie and his Eagles will win.

It works like this, with his father Willie Rioli snr drafted by Hawthorn in 1990, a year before the Hawks won the 1991 flag.

In 1999, Essendon drafted Dean Rioli and promptly won a flag the next year.

Then came Hawthorn selecting Cyril in 2007 before its 2008 premiership.

More recently the omen has branched out to two years with Richmond taking Daniel in 2015 before its 2017 triumph.

Is Saturday Willie’s turn after he was taken with pick 52 by the Eagles in 2016?