Like Picasso putting down his brush: Rioli says farewell to football
Cyril Rioli won four premierships, a Norm Smith Medal and was an all-Australian three times in his too-brief career of 189 games. Yet these imposing achievements don't speak to the greatest impact he had on the game, which was as an entertainer nonpareil.
Rioli's retirement has not really shocked the football universe, given that he had taken indefinite leave and Alastair Clarkson had suggested that Hawthorn didn't know when or if he would return, as the champion dealt with unspecified personal issues.
Rather, the immediate reaction to Cyril's retirement is one of widespread melancholy from football lovers, not simply from Hawthorn fans. Rioli finishing his career seems more akin to Picasso putting down his brush than a footballer "hanging up his boots'', as the cliche has it.
The lure of Darwin and family issues had threatened to take Cyril from the game in the past. In a book to be released in August, The Norm Smith medallists (published by Slattery Media Group), Rioli revealed that he had come close to retiring as recently as before this 2018 season, when his father suffered a heart attack and he was given leave by Hawthorn to go home to the Territory.
"When dad suffered a heart attack in late 2017, footy was a long way from my mind. I’ve only got one dad,'' Rioli told author Dan Eddy.
"Plus, I’ve been away from home for such a long time now. The only thing going through my mind during those weeks of his recovery was making sure he was my number one priority. I started to think that I wanted to move back home to be around him, and be around my family, because I’ve missed out on a lot of special family moments since being away.''
Rioli added that he "began re-thinking a lot of things'' but that "fortunately, I had my wife alongside me'' and had been supported by Hawthorn. He concluded, "during that break I had a lot of time to think, and I’m glad that I made the decision to come back for 2018".
Unfortunately for the game, Rioli has reassessed his life again and this time, he's gone. Many of us will hope that, just as the moody and mercurial Gary Ablett snr retired in mid-1991 before returning later that season, that Cyril will reconsider his call.
Rioli has been the most complete AFL footballer in the game in terms of his toolkit. He was one-touch, had exquisite kicking and vision, blinding acceleration and could mark far higher than almost any other player of his stature. His only weaknesses were a lack of aerobic fitness, compared with midfielders, and a predisposition for hamstring injuries throughout his career.
A senior Hawthorn figure once expressed to me the hope, earlier in Rioli's career, that he would, in time, develop that fitness base and thus exceed the younger Gary Ablett as the AFL's preeminent player. That this did not happen was possibly better for the public - Cyril's magic was more spellbinding for the fact that it happened in breathtaking bursts, rather than monotonous toil.
As Clarkson noted in the retirement announcement, Rioli had an ability to influence a contest "with a minimal amount of disposals'' that was unlike any other footballer. The comedian and Hawthorn fanatic Anthony "Lehmo" Lehmann once compared Cyril's disposals to dog years - one of his was worth seven of another player's.
Cyril also has been perhaps the most dangerous player alive when pursuing or tackling an opponent; he could make up ground so quickly. His mere presence could hurry defenders into errors, such as when a Fremantle defender dropped a mark at a crucial moment in the 2015 preliminary final (allowing Rioli to goal). The commentator David King quipped that the Docker "heard the Jaws music with Cyril''.
Rioli also perfected the art of the one-arm tackle; that is, he would grab one of the opponent's arm, making it impossible for him to correctly dispose of the ball.
A quiet and inscrutable character, his football - like old teammate Lance Franklin's - spoke more loudly than his words. He has been intensely private and it is striking that Hawthorn have, right up to his retirement, managed to keep private the precise nature of the personal issues that had seen him take leave.
We know, though, he had long missed home, perhaps even more than we - Hawthorn and non-Hawthorn alike - will miss him.