This time last week the teenager got to run around on the MCG on grand final day, picked to play for the under-18 Allies side that took on the new AFL Academy crop in the curtain-raiser.

On the ground he felt like an ant, tiny but with so much space to move in. Rioli got a lot of the ball, played well and had fun. "I got third best," he said, "so I felt pretty happy with it."

It got better. Rioli got to hang around for the main game and was sitting at Hawthorn's end of the ground when Cyril - his father's cousin - kicked two first quarter-goals to get Hawthorn going.

Rioli stayed at Cyril's place the next night and for the few days leading up to this week's draft combine, able to get an up-close look at the Norm Smith Medal that Cyril won.

He knows how lucky he is. "It was the perfect day in a way, getting to play on the 'G and then seeing my team get the three-peat and my uncle get the medal," Rioli said.

"I saw him the next day. I just said 'Congratulations, now let me see the medal!' I had a good look and took some photos. It was pretty good. I would love to do that one day."

He has known that for a long time. Rioli was only six years old when Cyril moved from Darwin to school in Melbourne. He was 10 when Cyril was drafted by Hawthorn.

Rioli grew up on the Tiwi Islands, and was going to school there when his year nine teacher handed him a piece of paper explaining the indigenous program at St Patrick's College in Ballarat and suggested he think about going there.

Rioli had never heard of Ballarat, and didn't even look it up before deciding he wanted to go there. "My uncle had moved away for school," he said, "and I was thinking it might work out for me too. I took it home and showed my mum and we both thought it would be a pretty good thing to do."

It wasn't that simple. It was about eight degrees when a 14-year-old Rioli flew into Melbourne and caught a shuttle bus to his new town. He hadn't realised it was that far from the city, or quite so cold.

He only knew one other boy at the school, and felt quiet and shy when classes started. "I was the kid sitting there with my head down not saying much," he said. "But then I started to know the other boys and started to feel like I was fitting in a lot more. It got easier. I've loved being there."

Rioli lived for a few months with Lisa Goodes - Adam's mother - until a spot opened up in the boarding house. She was a huge support, though he was visiting home when Adam came by to visit. "My friend was there, and he called me up to say he was with him," he said. "I was so jealous."

He didn't miss out entirely, though. Rioli was with Jake Neade on the day he got a phone call telling him he had been picked up by Port Adelaide and he played for the same school side as Liam Duggan, Dan Butler and Brenton Payne last year, all of whom had their names called out.

This year, he made his way into the North Ballarat TAC Cup team, learning more every week about what he needed to do if he wanted the AFL clubs to take a good look at him too. "I got a lot of confidence with my tackling and confidence with the way I have to run and carry the footy and try to take the game on," Rioli said. "I really liked playing footy this year. I have a lot of work to go but I feel like I've improved almost everything."

He has had help, beyond his school and club. When Rioli first moved away and thought almost every night about moving back home, he called his mother and she told him to stick it out. When he caught the train to Melbourne to spend the occasional weekend at Cyril's house and watch him play, his uncle told him the same thing, that he knew how he was feeling and that it would be worth it to hold on.

"Every time I saw him he told me how hard it was for him. He told me how he stuck it out and that if I did the same thing then time would go by and I'd be right," Rioli said.

"To come from a small community is pretty hard and I still miss it a bit. It's where my family is, but I reckon I'd be back home on the island not doing much if I hadn't made the move.

"For my football and my education it's been the best thing and it's made me grow up a fair bit too. I did stick it out and now I just have to keep working hard at it and see what happens."