Return To South Fremantle and Later Career
Following the 1987 season, at 30 years of age and after 118 games with the Tigers, Rioli decided that his time in Melbourne was up and headed back to South Fremantle to be appointed as captain for the 1988 and 1989 seasons. In his absence, the football landscape in the west had altered dramatically with the formation of the West Coast Eagles. Rioli opted to play at the lower level and the scheduling of seasons allowed him to captain-coach the Waratahs club in Darwin during the summer. He was still good enough to win All-Australian honours for a third time after the 1988 Bicentennial Carnival. Rioli played in the 1989 WAFL Grand Final, but South Fremantle went down to Claremont. In 1990, he finished as a player in Perth after 166 games for South Fremantle, but continued as a player in Darwin until 1991. He followed that with a two-year stint as non-playing coach of the Waratahs. In 1993, he was invited by the AFL to present the Norm Smith medal at the Grand Final. Fittingly, it was won by another Territorian Aborigine, Michael Long (Essendon) who had played at St Marys in Darwin, where Rioli had started his senior football a generation before.
Read more about this topic: Maurice Rioli
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