Rioli, Sorrell enter Australian Football Hall of Fame

WA football legends Maurice Rioli and Ray Sorrell have been recognised with induction into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

The pair were inducted last night during a gala event in Melbourne.

1959 Brownlow medallist Verdun Howell (St Kilda), SANFL star Paul Bagshaw (Sturt) Adelaide defender Ben Hart and Brisbane Lions midfielder Nigel Lappin were also inducted.

WA and AFL Hall of Fame Legend Barry Cable was added to the Australian Football Hall of Fame selection panel after playing an important role advocating for greater national recognition of the history of WA Football prior to the introduction of the AFL competition.

Maurice Rioli

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Rioli joined the Tigers in 1982 and was best and fairest in his first two years at the club.

Noted as a big-game player, Rioli was judged best afield in the 1980 and 1981 WAFL grand finals.

He was the first player to win a Norm Smith Medal in a losing side, after the Tigers’ 18-point loss to Carlton in the 1982 decider.

The left-footer was remembered as a classy centreman with brilliant skills in a career spanning 118 matches for the Tigers and 166 for South Fremantle.

Rioli died in 2010 on Christmas day, aged 53. He was the uncle of Hawthorn superstar Cyril and great uncle to young Tiger Daniel.

“Cyril and Daniel are making the family proud by stepping up and carrying (the family name) on,” son Gavin Rioli said at Tuesday night’s ceremony.

“[Maurice] was a big part of South Fremantle. They loved him down there.

“He would be very proud of the family, carrying on the name through the Richmond Tigers.”

Ray Sorrell

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Sorrell was a brilliant left-foot kick, but a motorcycle accident after his first season threatened to halt his career.

“I had a head-on collision with another motorbike,” he recalled on Tuesday night. “That damaged my knee. The club took me to two specialists in Perth and they both came up with the same scenario that I’d never play football again.”

The medicos were wrong, and Sorrell returned the next year. He went on to win two Sandover medals.

He is the grandfather of current players Jonathon Marsh (Collingwood) and Harry Marsh Sydney Swans).