{"id":467355,"date":"2025-08-25T20:30:03","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T20:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=467355"},"modified":"2025-08-26T00:14:01","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T00:14:01","slug":"its-time-port-star-retires-after-turbulent-year-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=467355","title":{"rendered":"'It's time': Port star retires after turbulent year"},"content":{"rendered":"

P\ufeffort Adelaide star Willie Rioli<\/a> has announced his retirement from the AFL at 30 years old.<\/p>\n

Rioli has had a turbulent year after he posted criticism of Hawthorn following Port Adelaide's victory in April<\/a>. This led to online racist abuse towards Rioli.<\/p>\n

In May he privately messaged an indirect threat to Bulldogs defender Bailey Dale, which led to further threats surfacing towards different players in 2024. He was suspended for one match<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Five massive headaches new Titans coach must solve<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'All hell breaks loose' as rogue photographer enrages Medvedev<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Unfair' Hasler suggestion denied, sensitive question dodged<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Willie<\/p>\n

In a statement, Rioli confirmed he'd made up his mind before the season finished.<\/p>\n

"I retire knowing I've given all I can to the game at the highest level," he said.<\/p>\n

"I made up my mind a couple of weeks' 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's time for me to step aside."<\/p>\n

Rioli played \ufefffor West Coast and Port Adelaide during his AFL career and started in the SANFL with Glenelg.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"I've loved my time at both Port Adelaide and West Coast and made lifelong friends," he said.<\/p>\n

"And I thank the Glenelg Football Club for everything they did for me in preparing me for the AFL.<\/p>\n

"I thank everyone who has provided me with such great support across my journey and I'll reach out personally to all those who have helped me along the way.<\/p>\n

"In 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."\ufeff<\/p>\n

Rioli \ufefffinishes his career with 109 games to his name and 151 goals. He was a premiership player with the Eagles in 2018 and represented the Indigenous All-Stars in 2025.<\/p>\n

Port Adelaide has told Ryan Burton, Jeremy Finlayson, Dylan Williams, Lachie Charleson and Hugh Jackson they won't be offered contracts in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

P\ufeffort Adelaide star Willie Rioli has announced his retirement from the AFL at 30 years old. Rioli has had a turbulent year after he posted […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":467344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=467355"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":467358,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467355\/revisions\/467358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/467344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=467355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=467355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=467355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}