Rioli would walk into any of the other 17 teams - he can break final games open and is still only very young 23 yo and played nearly 100 games (95).
We forget in
* 2017, his 4 goals in the prelim (GWS) got us into the grand final.
* 2018, in the qual final (Hawks) he had 17 disposals and 3 goals
* 2019, in the qual final (Lions) he had 6 tackles and 2 goals
* 2020, in the prelim (Port) he had 13 disposals and 6 tackles (kicked 2 goals in the losing qual final)
If he wasn’t following team rules there is no way he plays - his game is now built on defensive pressure and intensity which he must be doing OK to still be selected - Dimma is a master at dropping players who aren’t quite there.
He is a very good player for us (rated 15 - 20 on our list) and is what the commentators often refer to as our role players and why we are so hard to beat.
We forget in
* 2017, his 4 goals in the prelim (GWS) got us into the grand final.
* 2018, in the qual final (Hawks) he had 17 disposals and 3 goals
* 2019, in the qual final (Lions) he had 6 tackles and 2 goals
* 2020, in the prelim (Port) he had 13 disposals and 6 tackles (kicked 2 goals in the losing qual final)
If he wasn’t following team rules there is no way he plays - his game is now built on defensive pressure and intensity which he must be doing OK to still be selected - Dimma is a master at dropping players who aren’t quite there.
He is a very good player for us (rated 15 - 20 on our list) and is what the commentators often refer to as our role players and why we are so hard to beat.