Daniel Rioli won’t be sidelined from a minor ankle complaint he picked up in Richmond’s Friday night upset AFL win over Geelong.
Not if his own assessment of it is anything to go by.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Daniel Rioli roasts himself with hilarious sledge.
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Rioli started the game on fire against the Cats, setting up the opening goal of the match with a couple of possessions in a chain with Dustin Martin.
He later kicked a goal of his own, should’ve had a second, and finished with 23 disposals, including 17 kicks, despite batting what appeared to be ankle soreness throughout the night.
“Rioli was in discomfort throughout the night,” 7NEWS Melbourne’s Tom Browne said after the game.
“I think it’s an ankle, he played out the game, he might have got it jabbed up, but that will obviously be scanned tomorrow.
“He was in pain, he just battled on.”
But when asked about it by Channel 7 boundary rider Abbey Holmes after the game, Rioli poured cold water over the injury with a hilarious sledge directed at himself.
“I think I need a glass of cement and harden up,” Rioli said with a smile on his face.
“All good. Ankle is fine. Resting up for Dreamtime.”
Rioli, one of the game’s Indigenous stars, will not want to miss playing in the annual Dreamtime at the ‘G clash against Essendon, the centrepiece of Sir Doug Nicholls round, which celebrates the rich contributions that all First Nations players have made to the game.
Rioli said it was good to get back on the winners’ list after an indifferent start to the season.
“We obviously won against West Coast last week, and I think that was a nice confidence booster and momentum coming into this game, and obviously we’ve got the chocolates tonight and hopefully plenty more next week and for the rest of the year,” he said.
“We knew that Geelong wanted to be composed with the ball. We took it away from them tonight at times. And we got the job done by doing that.”
After starting his career as a livewire forward, Rioli has transformed himself into one of the competition’s most damaging running defenders who uses the ball with class coming out of the backline.
“I think the boys down back really believe in what I can do,” he said.
“They give me the ball, which is nice. Makes me look a bit better. Credit to those boys.”