CYRIL Rioli says the pain of Hawthorn's 2012 Grand Final loss will drive him for the rest of his career.

Rioli told hawthornfc.com.au he never again wanted to experience the despair he felt after the Sydney Swans came from 12 points down in the last quarter to win last year's flag.

"Just going through that loss and that feeling afterwards, I never want to lose like that again," Rioli said.

"I pretty much got tagged and got shut out of the game too (Rioli had 14 possessions, but just four kicks and no scores).

"Every time I'm out on the track or during the pre-season it's made me just try that little bit harder.

"It's something that will drive me for the rest of my career. I never want that to ever happen again."

Compounding Rioli's sense of loss is the fact he knows what it's like in the winner's rooms on Grand Final day.

He experienced that in his debut season, 2008, when he was part of Hawthorn's upset Grand Final victory over a Geelong team that had lost just once previously that season.

Rioli was barely 19 at the time and the premiership was the icing on a dream-like first season, when he played every Hawthorn game and finished a narrow second to Rhys Palmer in the NAB Rising Star award.

Rioli says now he expected at that time Hawthorn's young list would go on to win at least another flag.

He has since learned just how hard premierships are to win, having been part of the Hawthorn sides that fell a kick short of playing off in the 2011 Grand Final and two kicks short of winning the 2012 flag.

Four years on, some are suggesting Hawthorn's premiership window is starting to close now that key players such as Sam Mitchell, 30, Brad Sewell, 29, and skipper Luke Hodge, 28, are approaching old age in footballer years.

But Rioli is confident the Hawks' current list still has time to win another premiership.

"We're definitely getting older but a lot of our old guys have still got the talent and are still playing really good footy," Rioli says.

"Last year we were pretty close to getting another flag and hopefully we've got a few more years where we can contend.

"We've got good depth in the group and we've got guys who are on the borderline of playing who can come in and play roles to help us win a flag."

As he eyes a second premiership, Rioli is determined to be a more consistent contributor for the Hawks.

He might have been selected in last year's All Australian team at half-forward, but Rioli believes he can get better at breaking tags.

"It's sort of hard being tagged, I haven't dealt with it that well at times," Rioli says.

"But this pre-season I've tried to work on it and set some goals for myself with my forward line coach Adam Simpson.

"I've also got a lot of teammates around me that want to help me, so I just need to not be afraid of getting help off them because they're always there to block for me if I need it.

"If I can use my voice a lot more and use my teammates, I'm sure I'll be a lot better".

Rioli's quest for consistency will be helped by the likelihood he'll spend more time around the ball in the Hawks' midfield this season.

Despite the ankle injury that disrupted his pre-season after round one of the NAB Cup, Rioli says he now has the endurance to play in the midfield.

Just as importantly, he is confident that extensive leg-strengthening work in gym will ensure the hamstring injuries that plagued him when he went into the midfield two years ago should now be a thing of the past.

Which he hopes means that he can help give Hawthorn the midfield depth it will need to again contend in 2013.

"These days you need to bat so deep in the midfield to compete with the best teams," Rioli says.

"Someone like Sam Mitchell is a gun midfielder, but he can go forward and be a goalkicker or he can play defence as well.

"I guess that gives the likes of me, Paul Puopolo and Luke Breust a chance to get a run through that midfield. It's always fun for us just to get up in the midfield and mix it up a bit.

"So we've got a lot of midfielders can play that forward role and we've got a lot of forwards who can play that midfield role.

"It's good to have that mixture there."