THIRTEEN minutes into the third video on Daniel Rioli’s YouTube channel, the handline he has sitting on the banks of Tallebudgera Creek starts jumping.
“Bub, we’re on,” Rioli excitedly says to his fiancé Paris, who is filming the afternoon fishing adventure while keeping an eye on the couple’s puppy, Bobby. “It’s big, it’s big.”
“You’re joking,” she says, almost giggling with excitement.
“No, I swear on our relationship.”
Rioli fights, reels in the fish and gets it to land, much to the appreciation of some onlookers from the nearby overpass.
The 27-year-old is like a kid looking under the tree on Christmas morning.
“Mangrove jack! Back home, we catch a lot of mangrove jacks and this is gold. Beautiful eating, beautiful fish.”
A screen grab from one of Daniel Rioli’s YouTube videos.
Growing up on the Tiwi Islands, Rioli loves being outdoors to hunt and fish almost as much as he loves executing a perfectly placed 50m drop punt.
“If I’m happy off field, I’m going to be playing good footy on field,” Rioli told AFL.com.au over a 20-minute chat at the Courtside Café, which adjoins Gold Coast’s training facility.
It was a combination of reasons that led to his departure from Richmond after nine years that included three premierships, not the least of which was a change in lifestyle.
Daniel Rioli celebrates after the AFL Grand Final between Richmond and Geelong at the Gabba on October 24, 2020. Picture: Getty Images/AFL Photos
He glows when talking about the Tigers, but for him and Paris, it was time for something different.
“I’ve been at Richmond for a long time, I’ve been in Victoria for a long time and I just felt like I needed a change. Change is good,” he said.
“I needed that in my life and my fiancé did as well. That was the main reason for the move.”
And like very few other players, past or present, Rioli plans on documenting his new club and lifestyle through social media, notably a YouTube channel that he’s rejuvenated since switching states and plans on growing with regular uploads.
Daniel Rioli during Gold Coast’s training session at Austworld Centre Oval on November 25, 2024. Picture: Getty Images
Growing up
It’s easy to see why lifestyle is important to Rioli when you consider his upbringing.
His hometown, situated 80km off the coast of Darwin, is inhabited by a couple of thousand people across two main islands.
Like most people on the Tiwis, Rioli was happiest when he was outside, exploring the land and seeing what he could catch.
“My dad taught me about fishing, and my grandfathers. I used to go out on the boat a lot.
“Dad taught me how to throw a cast net.
“On the island you go to a spot where you think there’s fish, you’d throw your line down and ‘bang’, within a few seconds you’d be catching a lot of fish and having so much fun.”
It was a skill and passion he took to Victoria as a 14-year-old, boarding at St Patricks College in Ballarat, where he would stay until Richmond snapped him up with the 15th pick in the 2015 AFL Draft.
With Hardwick’s help, adjusting to big city life and playing for one of the country’s biggest clubs went well.
“I tried fishing in Melbourne, it’s shocking,” he laughed.
“What’s the saying? Four seasons in one day?
“Steve Morris, Bachar Houli, they love fishing and tried to get me in a boat at 5 or 6am. It was too early for me, too cold.”
Social media
Rioli launched his YouTube channel – Rolling with Rioli – late in 2023, when he and Paris took a trip to the New South Wales fishing town of Harrington, situated halfway between Forster and Port Macquarie.
It was a 12-minute look into the couple’s off-season life; brunch, coffee, cooking fish, catching fish, baiting hooks, playing with their little puppy, Bobby. A real fly-on-the-wall vlog.
The next video came later that month, a five-day tour through the Northern Territory that included stops in Alice Springs, Darwin and the Tiwis. This time it was hot-air ballooning, more fishing and taking a dip in local swimming holes.
We got a look at Rioli’s jokey side, grabbing a ‘light’ iced coffee and laughing that it must be healthier than the ‘real’ version.
But once he returned to Melbourne, it was back to footy, back to the unpredictable weather, back to minimal outdoor activity and back to no YouTube.
Since arriving on the Gold Coast in November, his social media output has skyrocketed. Regular posts and stories for his 128,000 Instagram followers and four new YouTube videos exploring what his new region has to offer.
“Now I want to get full-time into it,” he said.
“I watch a lot of fishing shows, YouTube, a lot of Brodie Moss. I love watching him. I love the idea of showing people what I do.”
Daniel Rioli poses during Gold Coast’s official team photo day at People First Stadium on February 17, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos
Moss is an Australian YouTuber (his channel is called YBS Youngbloods) with more than eight million subscribers. He fishes, crabs, hunts, does survival challenges and regularly tops 10 million views for a video.
“I just thought I’d share what people don’t really get to see,” Rioli said.
“They get to see me as a football player, not my personal life, and I thought I’d show that and what I’m really about.
“I was a bit timid talking to the camera and it took some getting used to, but I love it.
“Now I don’t care, I’m just being myself, I’m being real.
“My No.1 thing is to show people what I do off field, not just as a football player.
“Not many people get the chance to see the likes of Dustin Martin or (Marcus) Bontempelli … I just like to be real and show the fans what I like to do in my spare time.”
Rioli is engaging and doesn’t take himself too seriously.
There’s been a lot of research since he moved to Burleigh. The day we spoke, he was leaving the Suns headquarters to go home, grab his GoPro and film content.
Where are the best fishing spots? Tallebudgera, Currumbin and the Southport Spit are the early go-tos.
Are his teammates keen? You bet. Jed Walter is mud crabbing and Tom Berry is getting into it. Rookie draftee Asher Eastham has been messaging to ask what sort of bait he should use, what rod, then sending pictures of what he’s caught.
Paris takes on the time-consuming task of editing, although Rioli says he’s keen to learn. As someone who consumes quite a lot of YouTube, they’re very well put together.
He doesn’t pretend he has all the answers.
“I’m still learning, I’m still watching videos, I’m still fresh to it and raw, this whole content, YouTube thing is new to me. I still get nervous shooting myself.
“I’m trying to be consistent with it, you have to be, otherwise your subscribers ask questions and will probably drop off.
“I’d love to do it post footy.
“Whenever I retire, I want to be in the media someday, and in my spare time I can go fishing, film content and still be myself.
“It’s a balance I’m going to have to work out.”
For the time being, football is the priority for the reigning Tigers best and fairest, though.
Although the opportunity to debut for Gold Coast add to his 183 career games has been pushed back a week after the match against Essendon was postponed, he could hardly be more excited.
“I want to have my name up there where you can see Gold Coast won its first premiership and I’ve got my name up there.
“Another reason I wanted to move was to create history for this football club. I’ll be doing everything to push this club forward.
“I can’t wait to put the jumper on and start representing the Gold Coast Suns.”
In the meantime, you can find Rioli packing a rod, reel, some live bait, crab pots, a GoPro and drone as he makes his way around the Gold Coast and shares it with anyone who cares to look.
