Indigenous footy star Willie Rioli blames his scandals for driving First Nations players

Port Adelaide forward Willie Rioli says he almost quit and feels some blame for the drop of Indigenous players drafted into the AFL.

Rioli has revealed he considered retiring in the midst of controversies in late April and early May.

The Power forward expressed a hatred for Hawthorn in the wake of the rival club’s racism allegations in a social media post in late April.

And in early May, Rioli was banned for one game for a social media threat to Bailey Dale after the Western Bulldog made what Port described as a culturally insensitive remark during a game.

‘Definitely it gets to a point where it’s a bit too much sometimes,’ Rioli told Port’s club podcast, Peeled.

‘And yeah I have spoken to my manager and the club a couple of times about walking away from the game, which I am not shy to talk about.

Willie Rioli (pictured) almost retired after going through a series of scandals this year

The Port Adelaide star (pictured) said he partly blames himself for the fact the AFL now has 62 Indigenous stars, down from a high of 87 in 2020

Now Rioli (pictured celebrating with teammate Sam Powell-Pepper on Saturday) is using the drop in First Nations footballers as inspiration to keep going

‘More so … trying to not be putting any more pressure on the club. Get them out of the spotlight as well, in terms of not have to deal with my issues so much as a person off-field.’

Rioli said he carried a weight of past indiscretions including his 18-month suspension from 2019 for trying to swap his marijuana-tainted urine sample with a clean sample in a drug test when at West Coast.

Describing the suspension as a ‘dark time’, Rioli feared he may be scaring recruiters from drafting Indigenous players.

The number of Indigenous players has dropped to 62 this year, from a high of 87 in 2020.

‘I know it’s mainly because of COVID,’ Rioli said of the declining Indigenous representation.

‘I do hold a bit of blame myself a little bit for some of the stuff I have been through, in terms of clubs not trusting Indigenous players.’

The 104-gamer said he continued his career partly to rectify any such perception.

‘I felt that was my driver to come back to footy … be the light in terms of “we can go through this”,’ he said.

‘I look at the drop in terms of Indigenous players in the competition … that gives me the motivation to stick around longer, to help the next generation do better than what we are doing or what I am doing.

‘It’s more just trying to show the real person I am.

‘And be a leader and be a role model for the next generation to be like, ‘Look, he can take this stuff’ but he’s still been strong enough to hang around.

‘I want the next (Indigenous) generation to be better than what we are right now.

‘And I want them to have their confidence to make mistakes and not be judged by their mistakes.’