Willie Rioli’s Hawthorn taunt explodes with fiery family revelation
Port Adelaide match-winner Willie Rioli has added more fuel to the fiery rivalry with Hawthorn with an explosive Instagram post on Monday morning.
Rioli sealed the grudge match against the Hawks with a double goal late in the fourth quarter after the Hawks had threatened an unlikely comeback.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Rioli kicks match-winning goal for Port Adelaide.
Rioli received a handball from Sam Powell-Pepper in the goal square, where he had enough time and space to look back at his Hawthorn opponent Changkuoth Jiath and taunt him by extending the ball out towards him before pulling it back and kicking the match-winning goal.
Jiath responded by pushing Rioli to the ground, which sparked a melee as players from both sides rushed in to remonstrate.
A free kick was against Jiath for the push on Rioli, who kicked the easiest of goals to put the finishing touches on the Power’s 30-point win.
But while Rioli ruffled Hawks’ feathers with his on-field actions, he doubled down the morning after.
In a post to his Instagram stories, Rioli shared the clip of him showing the ball to Jiath and kicking the winning goal with an explosive caption that uncovered family reasons behind his “hatred” of the club.
“Play with fire, you’re gonna get burnt. My hatred for this club goes way past last year’s antics, what they did to my dad, and my brother, is why I can’t stand them. Not the players. #cococlub,” he wrote in a post that has since been deleted.
It’s unclear what the exact meaning is behind the references to his family members.
Willie Rioli Sr, who died in 2022, spent time at Hawthorn in the early 1990s, but never played a senior match.
Rioli Sr was also the uncle to four-time premiership Hawk Cyril Rioli, who took court action against the club over racism claims.
Rioli jr’s comment is the latest in what is quickly becoming one of the spiciest rivalries in the competition.
Port coach Ken Hinkley fanned the rivalry flames last May in celebrating the Power’s greatest escape, when Darcy Byrne-Jones soccered the winning goal with two seconds remaining.
The fire escaped containment lines after their semi-final in Adelaide when the Power pipped the Hawks by three points.
Hinkley taunted Hawthorn players post-game and was fined $20,000 by the AFL — a sanction which still has the Power privately fuming.