Cyril Rioli re-emerged at a Hawthorn Hawks game against Gold Coast Suns in Sir Doug Nicholls Round

He was at Waverley when Rioli was drafted in 2007 and was given a front-row seat to the Cyril show for the best part of a decade.

Rioli and his wife Shannyn Ah-Sam Rioli, whose difficult relationship with Hawthorn has been well documented, attended the Suns’ official function before the game and stayed to watch the match in its entirety. His cousin, Daniel, the three-time premiership-winning former Tiger, was playing his second game for the Suns in Darwin.

The pre-match function at TIO Stadium was a little different to one, say, at the MCG. There wasn’t a formal, sit-down dinner and speeches were kept to a minimum.

“It was more like a garden party,” Evans said.

And while many will hope it was a “welcome back to football” party for the former superstar, neither Hawthorn nor Evans were willing to go that far.

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Evans was at Hawthorn during the seasons in which Rioli and other players alleged they were racially discriminated against. Neither Rioli nor his wife have ever suggested Evans treated them poorly.

“We’ve maintained contact, but it’s been a bit more limited, yes,” Evans admitted.

Hawthorn settled their Federal Court case with Indigenous former players and their families in November last year, apologising for their experiences at the club, and reaching a financial settlement. After two days of mediation, the club settled with the Riolis, Jermaine Miller-Lewis, Montanah-Rae Lewis, Carl Peterson and Leon Egan.

Rioli has always shied away from the limelight. He was a magician on the field, bewildering so many opponents over his glittering 189-game career. And he often saved his best work for the biggest games – he played in 19 finals, five of them grand finals.

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But off the field, he has kept a largely low profile.

“I will say, [he] seemed pretty relaxed here last night,” Evans said.

“Maybe at the start was just a little bit different, but by the end of he seemed pretty relaxed to be there, which is great. We managed to do a little bit of work with him in the early partnership we had with AFL NT, and he was doing a bit of training with some of the academy kids when we had that connection to their programs.

“He didn’t want to shuffle forward and, you know, be right up front in the function. So we just let him choose his own spot.”

Hodge has been contacted for comment. This masthead also attempted to contact Cyril Rioli.

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