Young Dan ignites Rioli rivalryCourtney Walsh
The Australian
April 13, 2017A conversation between Richmond star Jack Riewoldt and Melbourne veteran Jordan Lewis this week hinted at an exciting future for young Tiger Daniel Rioli.
The Richmond forward set tongues wagging with a remarkable goal at a critical time in the Tigers’ defeat of West Coast at the MCG last Saturday.
With Richmond trailing in the third term, Rioli was spoiled in a marking contest by Brad Sheppard on the half-forward flank but gathered the football and weaved around his rival to handball to Dion Prestia.
After slipping past Jeremy McGovern, the 19-year-old received the ball back on the boundary line and managed to weave a goal from the most difficult of angles that tied the scores. Understandably, it earned Rioli a goal-of-the-week nomination.
In effect, the teenager was simply continuing the family business of conjuring a spectacular football highlight.
By virtue of carrying one of the most famous surnames in football, Rioli will invite comparison with some of the AFL’s most revered players, as the chat between Riewoldt and Lewis on AFL 360 demonstrated.
His uncle Cyril was a three-time All Australian and a Norm Smith medallist with Hawthorn.
Maurice Rioli, another uncle, was twice Richmond’s best-and-fairest and won the 1982 Norm Smith Medal. Another, Dean Rioli, notched 100 games with the Bombers.
Daniel tends to be bracketed with the champion Hawk Cyril, as Riewoldt noted on Tuesday night.
“I’ve been telling (Jordan Lewis) that he would be a pretty good little player,” Riewoldt said.
Lewis responded: “You said he would be better than Cyril,” to which his co-panellist replied: “I said he could be as good as Cyril.”
“He certainly is an exciting player and I am fairly sure there are a number of Richmond supporters out there who will have the No 17 on their backs,” Riewoldt said.
“He has a ferocious work rate, which is the thing that I think has accelerated his development, and he just wants to get better. He is an extremely talented kid.”
Rioli embraced the likely comparisons on the night he was drafted in 2015, cheekily claiming it would be “easy” to run down his uncle Cyril on the MCG.
A former coach, David Loader, retold a story about Daniel “chasing Cyril with a frog because Cyril doesn’t like frogs”.
“He reckons he’s got Cyril’s measure, which is a wonderful confident attribute to have,” Loader told the AFL website.
These were boastful, joyful claims of a talent yet to play against men, but just over a year into his career, the younger Rioli is proving himself a more than capable footballer.
Cyril Rioli was a dynamo in an incredible first season in which he played every game and was a member of the 2008 premiership side.
A maiden finals campaign eluded Daniel Rioli in a debut season in which he played 18 games.
But a September campaign is within the realms this season, particularly if Richmond can continue their unbeaten run when they meet the Lions in Brisbane on Sunday, the day he turns 20.
A statistical contrast between the first seasons of the two Riolis shows a slight edge to Cyril, but Daniel’s efforts are only slightly behind him while playing in a clearly inferior team.
Quizzed yesterday as to how the exploits of the young Tiger are matching up with the Hawthorn star, Richmond coach Damien Hardwick declared his Rioli was intent on making his own name.
“Cyril is a wonderful player and I was privileged to work with him in his early days (at Hawthorn),” he said.
“Daniel is different. I think he is only just scratching the surface as to where he is at as a forward.
“I have got no doubt he will push into the midfield as some stage when he is a little bit bigger and, I would like to say, improves his endurance, but he is very good in that area.
“Over a period of time he will push further up the field. He will make his own name, I have no doubt.”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/daniel-rioli-emerges-from-shadows-of-his-famous-uncles/news-story/0a3053d19031ad971fc67dd07f9f472b
