RICHMOND speedster Daniel Rioli is confident of being fit to play St Kilda on Sunday despite fearing he'd suffered a serious ankle injury during last week's loss to the Western Bulldogs.
Rioli was off the field for most of the second quarter last Friday night at Marvel Stadium after hurting his ankle late in the first term, but he has told Yokayi Footy he should take his place against the Saints this weekend.
The 26-year-old indicated he was about to be subbed out of the game before teammate Jacob Hopper suffered a concussion and was forced off, meaning Rioli had to push through the discomfort and play out the second half.
"I thought I was in trouble," Rioli told Yokayi Footy. "I was going to sub myself out and put (Rhyan) Mansell on, another brother boy sitting on the bench, but lucky enough I got the magic juice and got back out there.
"I got told what had happened (with Hopper) so obviously I had to force myself to go out there and play.
"They did their magic downstairs and I came back, felt really good and played the game out.
"I'm all good ... just slowly recovering. It was just an awkward landing and I'm just trying to get the swelling down now. That's all that's hurting me at the moment, the swelling, so once that's down, I should be right to go on Sunday."
Medical staff are confident the nine-day break between games will work in Rioli's favour for a match the Tigers must win to keep their finals hopes alive.
Interim coach Andrew McQualter praised Rioli's resilience for playing out the game after Hopper's concussion meant subbing the defender out wasn't an option.
"Daniel's pretty tough," McQualter said. "He was able to fight through and keep playing for the team, which was important."
The selection of Rioli to face the Saints will add to the returns of veteran trio Dustin Martin, Trent Cotchin and Dylan Grimes, who all missed the heavy defeat to the Bulldogs. Young forward Maurice Rioli will also be back from concussion.
Sitting one-and-a-half wins and percentage outside the top eight with three rounds to play, the Tigers seemingly face an uphill battle to play finals with games against the Saints, North Melbourne and Port Adelaide (away) to come.
"We obviously want to make finals, that's always the end goal, but it's obviously going to be really tough with the teams we're playing," Rioli said.
"We want to focus on playing our way and finish off the way we want to start next year. It's head down, bum up and we're going to give it our all.
"It's been an up-and-down season ... we're trying to excite the fans and play our way, we're just not competing the way we want to on the field. We just have to play a four-quarter game."
Yokayi Footy is broadcast weekly on AFL.com.au, the AFL Live app, NITV and SBS On Demand
