HAWTHORN Coach Alastair Clarkson is looking forward to having Cyril Rioli back in the side, declaring he’s missed him during his nine-week layoff.
Rioli had been one of Hawthorn’s best performed players in the opening five rounds, having averaged 19.4 disposals, four tackles and 2.4 goals per game.
He was best on ground too, in the win over North Melbourne in Round 5 before injuring his hamstring in the final term.
Clarkson was coy on whether Rioli is a chance to be his side’s substitute for tomorrow night’s blockbuster against the Cats, but declared his star is more than ready to return.
The Hawks coach revealed Rioli has completed a “mini pre-season” in the past month as preparation for the second half of the season.
“He’s had a really good rehab and he’s ready to play,” Clarkson said at the Ricoh Centre on Friday.
“He probably has been for the past two weeks, but we’ve thought that the best preparation for him to return to action was to get a mini pre-season in a sense.
“He’s trained fully for the best part of three or four weeks now so we’ve been really pleased with his preparation.
“We have missed his presence in our side, so he’s a pretty handy addition for us.”
Before his injury, Rioli had spent time both in the midfield and up forward, such is his ability to adapt to different roles during matches and have an impact in a variety of positions.
Clarkson says though, there’s no guarantee Rioli will play in the midfield on Saturday night, declaring that move is on a needs basis.
“If we don’t need him elsewhere, then we’ll just play him up forward,” he said.
“We’ll wait and see, it’ll be on a needs basis and also giving a lot of consideration to Cyril’s state of mind and body.”
He knows Rioli won’t be holding back on Saturday night and Clarkson says he expects him to contribute like any other player on the night.
“If you saw him train, you wouldn’t think there’s going to be any holding back for him, he’s ready to go and he’s ready to play,” he said.
“Our expectation is, like every other player, that he’ll come in and play his role for us and preform to a pretty good standard.”
The Hawthorn Coach there’s no cause for concern at the Hawks despite having been beaten by the Cats on the last 10 occasions.
The average winning margin for Geelong in those games is 8.6 points.
Clarkson says that is the exact reason why he isn’t concerned about facing them on Saturday night.
“They’ve been great contests – if we had of been beaten by five or 10 goals on each of these 10 occasions and not had ourselves in winning positions, then we’d have cause for concern,” he said.
“(But) they’ve been great contests where we’ve been playing against a side that many have argued is the greatest side to have ever played the game… so to be so competitive in that instance is a pat on our back in some sense.”
