Hawthorn supercoach Alastair Clarkson has revealed he sent retired Hawk Cyril Rioli a cheeky text message regarding the upcoming finals series.
Clarko told SEN's Whateley he sent the forward a message asking him to consider coming out of retirement to play finals footy.
Rioli announced his retirement from the AFL mid-season and promptly returned to Darwin to be with his family.
The 29-year old has won four premierships with the club, including being apart of the historic three-peat, and will be dearly missed as Hawthorn return to finals footy after finishing 12th in 2017.
The Hawks will face flag favourites Richmond next Thursday night at the MCG, and could use the experience of Rioli in big matches to get them over the line.
Clarkson said the text was light-hearted and in good spirit.
“I did send him a text message a couple of weeks ago just to say, ‘listen mate, you can just pop out of retirement for a couple of weeks if you like’,” Clarkson said.
“I got a smiley face response that suggests he’s enjoying his retirement up in Darwin.”
