Legendary Tiwi Islander Maurice Rioli Sr has been inducted into the Richmond Football Club Hall of Fame.
The honour was formally recognised during the club's President's Function ahead of the Tigers' Round 18 clash with Essendon at the MCG on Saturday night.
Rioli, renowned for his sublime skills and ball handling, made an indelible mark during his six seasons at Punt Road in the 1980s.
Before arriving in the VFL in 1982, Rioli starred for South Fremantle in the WAFL, where he played in three consecutive grand finals and was named best afield with Simpson Medals in both the 1980 and 1981 deciders.
Once in the yellow and black, Rioli quickly established himself as one of the VFL's most damaging and exciting players.
He won Richmond's best-and-fairest award in each of his first two seasons, finished runner-up in the 1983 Brownlow Medal by a single vote, and became the first player ever to claim the Norm Smith Medal from a losing grand final side.
After 118 games for Richmond, Rioli returned to WA to finish his career South Fremantle, where he was appointed captain for the 1988 and 1989 seasons.
During this period, he also captained both Western Australia and the Northern Territory in representative football, including leading the NT during its famous Bicentennial Carnival.
Beyond football, Rioli served as a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly and later worked in community services on the Tiwi Islands before sadly passing away in 2010.
Richmond great Kevin Bartlett said Rioli was among the finest players he ever shared the field with.
"I played just the two years with Maurice – 1982 and 1983 – but when I picked the best team of Richmond players I had played with in a book I did, I had no hesitation in including him in it," Bartlett said.
"In 1982, which was his first year at Richmond, we made the Grand Final and he won our Best and Fairest.
"In 1983, he lost the Brownlow Medal to Ross Glendinning by one vote and, if he had won, he would have been the first Indigenous player to win the game's most coveted individual award."
Bartlett added Rioli was a pioneer who brought a revolutionary style of play that would hold up well in any era of footy.
"His evasive skills and his tackling skills brought a new dimension to the club," he said.
"He had a sixth sense, knowing the whereabouts of opposition players, sidestepping at just the right time to create extra space, and he was a beautiful left-foot kick.
"He had a very low centre of gravity, so he never lost his footing, and he didn't fumble – great players don't fumble.
"In today's game, you would play him on the ball, he was just so good."
