HAWTHORN fitness coach Andrew Russell has shed more light on the changes to small forward Cyril Rioli's running technique that the Hawks hope will put a stop to the young star's persistent hamstring problems.

Rioli first revealed at the start of July that he had been working with Russell on aspects of his running style after tearing his right hamstring for a second time in 2011 against Essendon in round 14.

The 21-year-old also missed three matches with a tear to the same hamstring in 2009, and tore his left hamstring in the elimination final loss to Fremantle at the end of 2010.

"The last few weeks I've been going back with the trainers and they're teaching me how to run again, which is a bit hard," Rioli said on radio 3AW on July 3.

Speaking on Fox Sports Insider on Tuesday night, Russell outlined three issues with Rioli's running technique that were increasing the strain on his hamstrings:

•    Landing on his heel, rather than the ball of his foot
•    Landing with his foot too far in front of his body
•    Collapsing through his lower back

The focus, therefore, had been on making Rioli "more compact" (shorter strides) and "more upright" when running through visualisation and hours and hours of practice.

"We're trying to change muscle memory, and muscle memory takes thousands of hours of repetition to change," Russell said.

"Every single time he runs we're videoing him and giving him feedback.

"He needs to be able to visualise the movement and then actually execute the movement.

"If you can visualise the movement, you can activate parts of your brain that drive that movement.

"So it's not just a physical phenomenon we're dealing with, and he can actually change his muscle firing rates by how he thinks."

Russell said the premiership player's progress had been steady so far, but constant practice for the remainder of this season and into the 2012 pre-season would be required before the improved technique became habit.

"He's made some really good improvements already," Russell said.

"How that holds up under real stress and real fatigue, that's the big question mark."

Russell said the club would work Rioli harder at training to try to simulate match day fatigue levels.

"What he can do, other players simply can't do, so we have to make sure he's training right at his limit, and training at intensity so that he can handle game day intensity," he said.

In a frightening prospect for rival teams, Russell was confident that the changes would have an added bonus alongside a reduced risk of hamstring injury.

"The scary thing is, he could get quicker," he said.

"Once he improves his mechanics and he gets stronger, he could get quicker."

Mark Macgugan writes for hawthornfc.com.au and covers Hawks news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @mmacgugan