West Coast star Willie Rioli will likely have to wait until next year to discover his football fate despite his long-awaited doping hearing finally getting under way.

Rioli is facing a ban of up to four years after allegedly tampering with his urine sample during a routine drug test in August last year.

The 25-year-old tested positive to a metabolite of cannabis several weeks later.

But it is the urine substitution allegation that is the most serious, and it’s understood Rioli’s hearing commenced on Wednesday.

ASADA and WADA are notoriously tough when it comes to dealing with allegations of tampering with samples.

Rioli is expected to give evidence via video link from Darwin.

It ended a long wait for Rioli, who has been provisionally suspended since September 12, 2019.

But even though the hearing has finally arrived, the findings aren’t set to be handed down until early next year.

It means Rioli’s Christmas will be full of nerves and anxiety while he awaits to find out if his AFL career is over or not.

A ban of four years would make it extremely hard for the premiership player to return to AFL ranks.

In contrast, a ban of 18 months would mean Rioli would be free to play again from round one next season, given he has already been provisionally suspended for 15 months.

AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan has expressed his dismay about the length of time it took for Rioli’s case to be heard.

“It needs to be done quicker,” McLachlan said in October.

“We need to work with ASADA to take our share of accountability, but we need to get these things resolved quicker.”