A cup of coffee has settled any lingering issues between Maurice Rioli Jr and Andrew McQualter following an awkward standoff between the Richmond player and coach.

But the calming hot beverage and genial conversation days earlier has not prevented Rioli from being dumped from the team to face Hawthorn on Saturday after the final lineups had to be submitted to the AFL.

The out-of-form pressure forward struggled to have an impact against West Coast and was substituted out of the game in the final quarter.

McQualter had refused to guarantee the 20-year-old's selection on Thursday ahead of the final training session of the week.

The frustration eventually got to Rioli last weekend after walking off with just the six disposals to his name in Perth against the season's competition strugglers.

"I caught up with Maurice for a coffee the next day," McQualter said.

"We just spoke through it and he's a young kid trying to make his way.

"I think I said that after the game – I understand that he was disappointed.

"We spoke the next day, he apologised and said his behaviour on the bench, he could have done it better, so we move on."

Rioli did not hide expressing his displeasure last weekend of being substituted out of the win in the final quarter against West Coast.

The proud Tiwi Islander and the son of a Richmond 1980s icon of the same name was spotted slumped on the interchange bench, crossing his arms while also putting his feet on the vacant seat in front of him in a somewhat act of defiance.

Tigers staff kept offering Rioli the phone, saying that McQualter was keen to talk, but he refused to take the caretaker coach's call.

According to McQualter, the fallout was "not a big deal", Rioli regretted his behaviour and will suffer no official recriminations from the spat.

"I think everyone loved that (Maurice's passion), right?" McQualter said.

"Like we spoke about, you know, the fact that he cared and he's passionate, and wants to make it and wants to do well for our team.

"You've got to love that part of him."

The remarks from the press conference were made before the match committee made the call to omit Rioli in place of Indigenous Tasmanian Rhyan Mansell.

The 23-year-old, who was signed from SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens in 2020 as a preseason supplemental signing, has not played a game for the past five weeks in a like-for-like selection move.

The father-son draftee, who returns for a stint in the VFL, has played 25 games since making his AFL debut in 2021.