Hawthorn have named the underdone Cyril Rioli for Saturday’s AFL Grand Final against Sydney.
Rioli tested his injured hamstring in a VFL comeback last weekend after having last played in late June and was named in the Hawks’ 22 along with ruckman Ben McEvoy, out of favour with coach Alastair Clarkson since the round 21 defeat to Fremantle.
Second-year player Jonathon Ceglar and Jonathan Simpkin were omitted from the team while veteran tough nut Brad Sewell also failed to receive a re-call.
The 23-year-old Ceglar appeared in 15 games for the Hawks this season and had played well up until last week’s three-point preliminary final win over Port Adelaide.
Hawthorn general manager of football operations Chris Fagan said the three regulars not chosen for the Grand Final “can consider themselves mightily unlucky”, adding the additions of Rioli and McEvoy “gives us the best chance for victory” against Sydney.
Rioli was far from his best in the VFL last week, but showed signs of his usual exciting self in brief intervals.
“We were really happy with his performance last week in the Box Hill Grand Final, particularly in the third quarter when we felt like he got back to some of his old form,” Fagan said.
“He got a lot of confidence out of that . . . his hamstring pulled up really well and he’s raring to go for the Grand Final at the weekend.”
Jordan Lewis, who overcame the corked thigh which saw him subbed out of the last week’s final, was impressed with Rioli’s training form this week.
“He looked really good and I suppose if the coaches had any doubt they probably have a bigger headache now,” Lewis said Thursday.
“He trained really well.”
The Sydney lineup remains unchanged with Tom Mitchell, Dean Towers and Jeremy Laidler named as reserves.
Photo: Scott Barbour/Getty Images
