DANIEL RIOLI UNMASKED
Family, culture and a telling visit by a turtle set Daniel Rioli on track
WHEN the turtle meandered onto the main street, they knew it had to be a sign. That kid in Melbourne, the one playing footy — Daniel Rioli. The turtle was his totem. It was this time last year on Bathurst Island, one of the biggest of the Tiwi Islands, when a metre-long green turtle left the flat stretch of beach behind and made its way up into the streets of town. Locals had never seen anything like it. A few youngsters managed to gather it and took it to show community elders. It was then that one thought of Richmond young gun and Tiwi product Rioli, who was about to embark on his first AFL finals series at Richmond. “Mum called me and said that they found this turtle up on land up in the streets. That’s never happened before, so it was pretty weird,” Rioli says. “One of the older ladies said, ‘This might be a sign for that kid in Melbourne who’s playing footy … his totem is a turtle’.” A bathtub was quickly filled with saltwater — Rioli thinks it might have been at his nan’s place — and the mission was on to keep the turtle, which typically would eat jellyfish and seaweed, healthy. “Mum thought it might be a sign that we could go all the way, so I said, ‘OK, make sure you keep it’,” he says. “I don’t know how they kept it that long or what they fed it. But they did.” Against the odds, much like Richmond, the turtle thrived. Rioli — who hails from Garden Point on Melville Island, with Bathurst Island the home of his mother’s family — suddenly had an addition to his finals routine. By Grand Final week, Rioli’s mum, Belinda, was convinced that if Richmond beat Adelaide, it was that sign. And that’s how it played out. The turtle was released in full health after the drought-breaking premiership and there has been no sign of it since. “It was fine when they released it and went happily back off into the sea, so the turtle is probably big right now. “Now I’m hoping that some time maybe this week, something happens again, like the turtle might rock up again.
“Who knows? There’s still time. Everyone is just looking for signs — for anything.”
THE Rioli totem has been passed down through generations for centuries. Each indigenous person has different totems for nation, clan, family group and personal symbols, which link that person to the universe. The responsibility is then for the totem to be protected and passed on to the next generation.
Rioli said that his family totem — the turtle — was used in carvings, paintings and music.
“We’ve got our own turtle traditional dance — everyone has got a dance in their totem,” he says.
He never got to see the finals turtle. There was talk that there was one photo of it, somewhere, but he’s never seen it, adding to the mystery.
Those responsible for keeping it healthy and its release had anticipated Rioli’s return home.
“Everyone wanted to hold my premiership medal and all that,” he smiles.
“I got around to all my family and they all got photos with it. It was something pretty special and hopefully we can do it again.”
CULTURE and family play a significant part in Rioli’s life. There is a lot to learn, as he absorbs the stories of his ancestors and the skills of the land that have been passed down.
His parents and three siblings remain in the Tiwi Islands, where Rioli relishes returning to.
“That’s all I need right now — my culture is my number one thing that I still want to learn,” he says.
“My family is key to keeping me where I am now and what I am doing. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“It’s pretty special being an Aboriginal person and to have my culture really strong and everyone involved in my family to be so into it.
“I enjoy everything — the dancing, the culture and spending time with family. In the Tiwi Islands, it’s a big family.”
It is all with an eye to eventually fulfilling his responsibility of passing on his knowledge to those that will, he hopes, follow him.
“My mum’s pretty good at (speaking Tiwi language). I can understand it, but I can’t speak it fluently,” he says.
“(To pass it all on) is why I want to be really strong in my culture.
“Eventually, hopefully when I get older and hopefully have a happy family, I can teach my kids and everyone that is really close to me … to teach them my culture and just pass it on. “I won’t let it die down, for sure.” Rioli will travel home when the season ends and looks forward to some warmth after the icy Melbourne winter.
His girlfriend, Mia Fevola, met some of Rioli’s family — including Belinda — for the first time this week and he hopes to one day take her to Garden Point.
“I’m really big on my culture and I want her to experience that as well,” he said.
RIOLI was just 14 when he moved away. He shifted to Ballarat from Melville Island — where it was 9C and 34C respectively yesterday.
It was tough, boarding at St Patrick’s College and doubting whether his hope of following in the footsteps of family members like his grandfather Maurice Rioli — a Richmond champion and fellow No. 17 — and four-time premiership Hawk Cyril Rioli, Essendon stars in Dean Rioli and relative Michael Long, would become a reality.
“I didn’t think I was going to get drafted, to be honest,” Rioli says.
“I stuck it out there (in Ballarat) for four years and I remember talking to Dad and saying, ‘If footy doesn’t work out and I don’t get my opportunity, what am I going to do? Am I going to return back home to the Tiwi Islands and find a normal job there and just play local footy?’
“Dad said, ‘Nah, we’ll send you to Perth and you can play for South Fremantle’. All my grandfathers played there and that’s where Maurice played.
“I was lucky enough that straight after school I got drafted to Richmond … where Maurice played. I was so happy.”
His first season — 2016 — “wasn’t too pretty” as the club finished 13th and pressure mounted on coach Damien Hardwick and its board.
“But the following year was extraordinary,” the premiership forward says.
“I never thought that day would come. Anything can happen.”
IT has been a year of change for the 21-year-old. After three years living under Hardwick’s roof, Rioli jokes that he “wasn’t offered another contract” to stay living with his coach and his family and has moved out.
“He’s a family man at home — so loving and jokes around a lot.
“I’ll miss them a lot. They’re always family. They were my second home when I moved to Melbourne.”
Football has seen its changes, too. Rioli missed the first 12 rounds of this season after breaking his foot in last year’s Grand Final — his first serious injury, which required plates and screws to be inserted — but has not missed a game since.
After training with the midfield group as he rehabilitated, Rioli’s hunger to win more of the ball and maybe move into the centre of the ground has been fuelled.
“This year I’m trying to mix a bit of offence and defence into my game.”
Rioli revealed his ambition to be to add size and turn midfield beast alongside the likes of Brownlow medallist Dustin Martin and captain Trent Cotchin.
“Who knows — next year or the following year I could build a bigger frame and hopefully play in the midfield full-time,” he says.
“That’s what I want and hopefully kick goals as well.”
RICHMOND’S first final looms on Thursday night against Hawthorn and while Rioli never got to face his cousin Cyril — who retired this season — there could yet be another Rioli reunion on the big stage this September.
Should the Tigers and West Coast both enjoy a flawless first three weeks of the finals, they would meet in the Grand Final, meaning Rioli and cousin Willie — an Eagle — could play against each other for the first time.
To say it’s a meeting Rioli is hoping for would be an understatement, given the pair’s connection with the Sherrin under street lights at Garden Point.
“Every holiday that I used to get back home (from Ballarat), I would be at home and he’d walk down the street with a footy in his hand and would call out and say ‘come outside’ and under the streetlights we’d play a game of footy just on the road.
“We’d kick the ball on this small road. No tackling or anything — it was pretty fun.”
To meet on the MCG “would be a bit different”.
“He’s the one that really taught me to play footy and he taught me how to kick, tackle,” Rioli says.
“Now he’s got his opportunity and it’s his first finals campaign. I reckon he’ll turn it on.
“The whole Tiwi Islands, I’m sure, would go off.”