\n Small forward Willie Rioli has announced his retirement from AFL football.\n <\/p>\n
Port Adelaide small forward Willie Rioli has advised the club of his retirement from AFL.<\/p>\n
Rioli was recruited by Port Adelaide from the West Coast Eagles during the 2022 trade period following three seasons with the Eagles, where he played a key role in their 2018 premiership triumph.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old debuted for Port Adelaide in Round 1 2023 and has been instrumental in the club’s top 4 finishes in both 2023 and 2024 as a dynamic goalkicking small forward.<\/p>\n
Rioli brought his innate goalkicking sense to Alberton, with his exciting brand of football making him a fan favourite and a crucial component of Port Adelaide’s attacking structure.<\/p>\n
He retires having played 109 games at AFL level across two clubs \u2013 51 at West Coast and 57 at Port Adelaide \u2013 kicking 151 goals throughout his career.<\/p>\n
Originally drafted from Glenelg with pick 52 in the 2016 national draft, Rioli made his AFL debut for West Coast in Round 2, 2018.<\/p>\n
Rioli celebrates a goal at Adelaide Oval. Image: Matt Sampson.<\/p>\n
“I retire knowing I’ve given all I can to the game at the highest level,” Rioli said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made up my mind a couple of weeks\u2019 ago that this would be my last season and it was great to finish on such a high last Friday night at Adelaide Oval.<\/p>\n
“I want to see even more opportunities given to our young, talented small forwards at Port Adelaide in Joe Berry and Tom Cochrane. They’re the future of our club. It\u2019s time for me to step aside.<\/p>\n
“I’ve loved my time at both Port Adelaide and West Coast and made lifelong friends. And I thank the Glenelg Football Club for everything they did for me in preparing me for the AFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thank everyone who has provided me with such great support across my journey and I\u2019ll reach out personally to all those who have helped me along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn particular, I want to acknowledge the fans at Port Adelaide and West Coast who gave me so much love and support.<\/p>\n
“I now look forward to playing my role in helping the next generation of First Nations’ players coming through.”<\/p>\n
Rioli quickly became a fan favourite thanks to his keen eye for goal. Image: Matt Sampson.<\/p>\n
Port Adelaide GM \u2013 Football Chris Davies congratulated Rioli on his outstanding career.<\/p>\n
“Across two clubs Willie has contributed so much to the game,” Davies said.<\/p>\n
“He’s incredibly skilled and exciting to watch, and played a key role in our top 4 finishes in 2023 and 2024 as a goalkicking small forward.<\/p>\n
“We congratulate him on all he\u2019s achieved at both Port Adelaide and West Coast. He\u2019ll forever be an AFL premiership player, and he should be incredibly proud of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWillie will always be part of the Port Adelaide Football Club and we wish him and his family all the best for the next chapter of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Willie Rioli career stats<\/p>\n
AFL games: 109 \u2013 58 for Port Adelaide, 51 for West Coast
\nAFL goals: 151 \u2013 91 for Port Adelaide, 60 for West Coast
\n2018 AFL Premiership player for West Coast Eagles
\n2025 Indigenous All-Stars team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Small forward Willie Rioli has announced his retirement from AFL football. Port Adelaide small forward Willie Rioli has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,83,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-94406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-text","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}