DEAN Rioli's footy career started with Tiwi Islands school sides, then moved to the TIO NTFL competition with Waratah and South Fremantle in Perth's WAFL competition and finished at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Essendon colours.
Drafted to Essendon via the 1998 rookie draft when coach Kevin Sheedy told his recruiting staff Rioli was the player he wanted, Rioli debuted in Round 1, 1999 in an 81-point win over the Sydney Swans. and went on to play 100 games for the Bombers, including their 2001 losing grand final side against Brisbane and the one-point loss to Carlton in '99 preliminary final.
Those heights were a long way from the 10-year-old kid who played schools football for the Tiwi Islands before joining Waratah under the coaching of his uncle Maurice.
"When I moved into Darwin at the end of primary school, it coincided with uncle Maurice starting out as coach of Waratah,'' Rioli said.
"All the Rioli's played at St Mary's, but when I became eligible for senior footy, my big move was to play at Tahs.
"The same thing happened after my last year in the AFL when I lined up with the Tiwi Island side playing a trial season in the NTFL, which meant I never pulled on a green and gold jumper.''
Rioli moved to Perth for school at age 14, where he played with Lakes in South Fremantle's region.
From there he progressed to the South Fremantle colts and was well on the way to reaching his goal of playing in the same side his dad Sebastian had starred for in the 1970s.
"My uncles Maurice, Lawrence, Manyl, Johnny, Cyril and Wally all played for Souths and since then myself, Shannon and Ben have turned out for them, so it's been a real family tradition,'' he said.
Essentially a full forward when a junior at Waratah and through the under-15s and 17s in Perth, Rioli became a goalkicking half forward with the WAFL Bulldogs.
He kicked four crucial goals in South Fremantle's 1997 grand final win over East Fremantle, a win highlighted by another Tiwi Island recruit, Warren Campbell, booting the winning goal.
Rioli won the WAFL's Rising Star award that year, attracting interest from AFL clubs, including the Bombers and West Coast.
"That flag win with Souths in 1997 was notable for breaking a 17-year drought that went back to 1980 when uncle Maurice, Benny Vigona and Basil Campbell were in that side, along with Stephen Michael,'' Rioli said.
"Then the next generation like myself, Warren Campbell and Clem Michael carried those names on when we won the premiership in '97.''
Overlooked in the 1997 draft, Rioli trained with West Coast under then coach Mick Malthouse during 1998 and looked likely to join the Western Australian giants.
"They were going to pick me up with their first pick, but Essendon got in the pick before,'' Rioli grinned.
"I was an Essendon supporter after Michael Long joined them and was rapt when their coach Kevin Sheedy made the decision to draft me.
"Normally it was the recruiting staff under first year manager Adrian Dodoro who picked what they thought was the best from the west, but the way Sheeds tells it, he overrode them and told them I was the player the club needed.
"Looking back I was fortunate to get my name on the (No. 43) locker at Essendon that will be there forever and I played under Kevin Sheedy and alongside Michael Long, so I fulfilled my childhood dreams despite missing out on a premiership.''
Nowadays Rioli is the president of TIO NTFL club Tiwi Bombers, a task he took on last year when the Bombers needed some firm direction, although they have fallen away on the field where the incursion of the COVID pandemic finally forced the club to abandon a winless 2021-22 TIO NTFL season.
"We will now take this opportunity to press pause, reset and get ready for a big return in season 2022/23,'' Rioli said.
"There's enough talent on the Islands and the next step is to look at the whole football picture on the Tiwis, from the local TIFL to junior and women's football.
"The Tiwi Bombers are much more than the footy club you see on Saturdays and while there is a lot of work to do in directing the club back on track, we believe we've finally done that.''
Rioli and his committee want to create a "whole'' football program with an emphasis on it being much bigger than just the Tiwi Bombers.
"We want to make sure we can be competitive on the field and at the same time survive financially off the field,'' he said.
"Then we can give back to the communities on both islands by creating pathways a lot of the Tiwi people can take as a positive message.
"That includes keeping kids at school and making sure they do all their health checks and at the same time, improving our football program by being very competitive in the Darwin competition.''