There was plenty of love splashed across the newspapers this morning for Cyril Rioli in the wake of his retirement.

Here are some of the sentiments from today's press.

Read: Cyril's career in pictures

"In a world of statistical mumbo-jumbo and inflated numbers of worthless possessions, Cyril altered the course of most games he played in. His raw numbers had glitter sprinkled on them compared to the rest of his contemporaries. I suspect that we may stil need a few more years tp accurately categorise the "other" things he could do on a field to make his teammates better, at least in a statistical sense." 

- Bob Murphy, The Age

"In a weird selfish way, I am glad that I don't get to see Cyril, the footballer, age. To remember him and his playing brilliance until this point in time is all we should ever want to recall. Some of us footballers go on too long because we love the game pretty well more than anything else in life. Tjem we grow up and start to see the world in a different light. But because Cyril is bowing out now, he retires without ever having played a bad game. He may have had quiet games, but never a bad one."

- Dermott Brereton, Herald Sun