Foxsports caller Brian Taylor has taken a liking to Riley’s strong attack on the contest, with his now famous line, “He likes doing the dirty things Aidan Riley. He takes the rubbish out, greases the car, cleans the fireplace; they reckon he’s that sort of guy.”
Speaking on Adelaide’s official podcast ‘Down the Guts’, Riley, who lives with Kurt Tippett, did admit that he does the bulk of the work around the home.
“That’s all I do, I’m the slave,” said the 19-year-old, who made his debut in round 19 against Port Adelaide.
“We don’t have a chimney, but I take out the rubbish and do the dishes, Tippo doesn’t like to pull his weight!”
“I’ve been living with Kurt the whole year which has been good; he’s helped me along the way with my dieting and all of that sort of stuff, which I was probably struggling with in my first year.
“It’s been good to stay with him and see how he goes about it and learn a few things along the way.”
Taylor was particularly excited by Riley’s crunching second quarter tackle on Geelong ruckman Brad Ottens.
Growing up in Wollongong on the NSW coast, a Rugby League stronghold, Riley said that style of tackling had been instilled from a young age.
“It was one of those perfect moments and you don’t get too many of those, so you have to make the most of them when they come up; my eyes lit up and I just went at him,” Riley said.
“I suppose growing up in a rugby league area that was bred into me, that tackling technique, so I’ve done a bit of work with it. This pre-season we did a lot of work with technique so it comes pretty naturally now so when the opportunity comes you’ve just got to keep sticking them.”
Riley’s nickname is also a popular point of discussion, given the unfortunate tag when he first arrived at the club of ‘Pigdog’.
He maintains the name was passed onto him from a former player who also went about his football in a similar vein.
“I’m still a bit unsure as to how I got this nickname, I suppose when I first got to the club it was just after Rob Shirley left and I think the boys were looking for someone else to call ‘Pigdog’ so I guess I adopted the name off Shirls.”
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