Rioli hasn’t played a senior match since injuring his hamstring in slippery conditions playing against Gold Coast in Launceston in Round 15.
The injury was just another chapter in an ongoing tale of woe for Rioli and his hamstrings, but the story may have a happy ending as he was selected for the Hawks Grand Final team on Thursday evening.
Rioli controversially played his first game of footy since the injury in last week’s VFL Grand Final loss for Box Hill, with the speedster held back and not allowed to come back onto the field as the Hawks were swamped by Footscray in the game’s latter stages.
But despite only showing glimpses of brilliance in that game, Rioli has been selected – at the expense of Jonathan Simpkin – although it seems likely the 25-year-old will still need to prove his fitness on the morning of the game, despite getting through two training sessions this week.
Along with Simpkin, ruckman Jon Ceglar was also unlucky to be dropped from the side for Saturday’s big match as the Hawks opted to play Ben McEvoy as he offers another tall in defence to combat Sydney’s triple threat of Lance Franklin, Kurt Tipett and Adam Goodes.
Although Jordan Lewis was in some doubt after suffering a cork in last week’s Preliminary Final win over Port Adelaide, the rugged midfielder has been named in bad news for veteran Brad Sewell.
Sydney Swans
B Nick Smith, Ted Richards, Rhyce Shaw
HB Gary Rohan, Heath Grundy, Dane Rampe
C Kieren Jack, Josh Kennedy, Lewis Jetta
HF Dan Hannebery, Lance Franklin, Harry Cunningham
F Adam Goodes, Kurt Tippett, Ben McGlynn
FOL Mike Pyke, Luke Parker, Jarrad McVeigh
I/C Craig Bird, Jake Lloyd, Nick Malceski, Sam Reid
EMG Tom Mitchell, Jeremy Laidler, Dean Towers
Unchanged
Hawthorn
B Josh Gibson, Brian Lake, Grant Birchall
HB Sam Mitchell, Ben Stratton, Luke Hodge
C Bradley Hill, Will Langford, Isaac Smith
HF Luke Breust, Jack Gunston, Jordan Lewis
F Ben McEvoy, Jarryd Roughead, Paul Puopolo
FOL David Hale, Liam Shiels, Shaun Burgoyne
I/C Cyril Rioli, Taylor Duryea, Matt Spangher, Matt Suckling
EMG Jonathon Ceglar, Jonathan Simpkin, Brad Sewell
IN Ben McEvoy, Cyril Rioli
OUT Jonathon Ceglar (Omitted), Jonathan Simpkin (Omitted)