In a zoom meeting between Dillon and club chief executives on Wednesday afternoon was a previously scheduled meeting to discuss matters including proposed changes to the football soft cap. The Rioli matter as raised in the course of those discussions given all club heads were on the call.
Beforehand, Port Adelaide chairman David Koch said the club was “incredibly angry” with Rioli, but the distinction between on- and off-field comments was important.
“We’re incredibly angry about the situation and Willie knows that,” he said on 5AA on Wednesday morning.
“What is said on the field is one thing. What is done off-field, particularly on social media and a private message to another player he thought would stay private but then was passed on … we’ve talked pretty sternly to Willie about it and said it’s just not on.
“I’m making absolutely no excuse for Willie’s private message after the game. But you can’t mix on-field and off-field comments or it will lead to places people don’t want to go.”
Koch also said that while there was no excusing Rioli’s alleged threatening message to Western Bulldogs player Bailey Dale last weekend, there was a “bigger picture” that needed to be considered: the regular racial abuse aimed at Rioli and other Indigenous players.
Rioli took a day of personal leave last month after revealing he was racially abused online following a social media post he made declaring his “hatred” for Hawthorn following their Gather Round clash. Rioli’s cousin is Cyril Rioli, the Hawthorn premiership champion, who was a key figure in the Hawthorn racism scandal. Port said in a statement last month that Rioli and his family “continue to carry deep-seated pain and sadness from past family experiences”.
Rioli was also racially abused during last year’s Showdown.
“You’ve got absolutely no idea what they go through, both on-field and off-field. The threats we receive as a club against our Indigenous players would just horrify you, and we see a responsibility to protect them in that situation as well,” Koch said.
“It’s a build-up of pressure and abuse that they’ve received and every individual handles that differently and that’s what we’ve got to take into account.
“There’s no excusing that and don’t get me wrong, but we have a duty to support the players and turn a bit of attention on to what society is doing to these players.”
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley was due to give his weekly press conference on Wednesday afternoon, but the club has now moved his media appearance to Friday, with a club spokesperson instead to front reporters.
On Wednesday, Bombers coach Brad Scott stressed that he and his players had “no issue” with Rioli and that he was not aware a threatening comment had been made during their round three clash at Marvel Stadium until Tuesday night.
Scott hadn’t been contacted by the AFL about the issue when he addressed the media at Tullamarine on Wednesday morning and he said he didn’t expect to be.
He held back on labelling the AFL as inconsistent, instead urging people to “draw their own conclusions”.
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He said there was a clear difference between making threatening comments in the heat of the moment on the field and doing it via text message a day after a game.
“On-field is a competitive environment, and what would be defined as a threat could be a pretty loose term. We play a combative, competitive sport and I would expect our players to be combative. But I would expect them to be that within the realms of sportsmanship and also broader community expectations.
“But within those expectations, I still have a pretty firm belief that what happens on the field should stay on the field, provided it’s within general community expectations.”
Scott, who used to run the AFL football department alongside current boss Laura Kane, restrained himself from criticising his former place of employment.
“The operative words are ‘used to’ … I think it’s been really well-documented, the issues and challenges from the AFL generally over the course of this year and I don’t have anything to add.
“I think it’s been well-documented, the facts as they are, and I think people can draw their own conclusions as to whether they’ve been consistent.”
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