Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge has hit back at Yartapuulti (Port Adelaide) president David Koch, saying claims that Dogs players had made culturally disrespectful comments to Willie Rioli are untrue.
As Rioli prepares for his comeback on Saturday, the Bulldogs are bemused the Power have revisited the now two-week old controversy that resulted in the Power small forward serving a one-game suspension for allegedly making threats against opponents, including Bulldog Bailey Dale.
Port coach Ken Hinkley (right) has backed Willie Rioli without condoning behaviour which oversteps the markCredit: AFL Photos
Koch, in an interview with Adelaide radio station 5AA on Wednesday, stopped short of saying Bulldogs players had made racist remarks to Rioli but said comments towards him had lacked sensitivity towards his culture and community.
In defending his players, Beveridge fired a barb at Yartapuulti, as Port will be known by across the two Sir Doug Nicholls rounds, saying Rioli would not learn if the club was making excuses for his behaviour, and warned of consequences when the teams meet next.
Luke Beveridge and Bailey Dale.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
The Dogs and Power are not drawn to met again in the home and away season this year.
“I can tell you as a matter of fact the comments weren’t culturally insensitive,” Beveridge said. “It surprised me he would insinuate or accuse our players of going down that track, especially a football club and our people [are of] high character, we’d never disrespect First Nations people in our language or our actions.
“I said at the time. Willie’s made a mistake, we’ll forgive him and learn from it. Will he learn from it if his own club is enabling him by making excuses for him?
“It didn’t happen. There’s always a little bit of edginess in the way players talk to each other but our players would never say anything to an Indigenous player that is culturally insensitive. We won’t ask for an apology. We’ll remember it for next time.”
Beveridge defended Dale, the player whom Rioli had allegedly threatened via a Bulldogs teammate in the days after the Bulldogs’ victory over the Power a fortnight ago.
The AFL did not take action against Rioli initially but banned him last Thursday after reports surfaced in the media that he had also allegedly made on-field threats to an Essendon player and a Geelong player in the past two seasons.
“We’d all moved on until they continued to talk about it,” Beveridge said. “Bailey Dale, who wouldn’t agitate a milkshake, he’s an outstanding player but he’s not an adversarial front-foot type player. He plays football. He wanted to move on extremely quickly because he was surprised by what happened. We thought it was behind us.
“I’m sure the AFL feel the same so I’m just not sure why that angle has come up after the fact now. Maybe it’s because Willie’s back playing this week, I don’t know.”
The Power sent a strong statement last week, reminding the AFL industry that it “can do more to seek to understand the daily challenges that our First Nations and multicultural players and staff live with on a daily basis”.
The Power have said Rioli had not been racially vilified by Dogs, Cats or Bombers players but Koch’s comments this week have clouded the matter.
Koch said: “something happened in the game”.
“Now, people will say that footballers are so soft these days, ‘just run with it, accept it like the old days’,” Koch said. “Indigenous players throughout their whole life have faced that sort of casual abuse.”
Asked if Rioli had been racially abused by Bulldogs players, Koch said: “Well it was, if you like, cultural disrespect during the game referring to where he had come from, community habits, where he came from and things like that.
“As an industry we have to be aware of that, and as I have said, (it is) no reason to excuse sending a private message after the game, but an understanding of the build-up and the frustrations and that is where the reactions come from.”
While condemning Rioli’s alleged threats, the Power last week sent a strong statement last week, saying the AFL industry can do more to understand the daily challenges confronting First Nations and multicultural players.
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