Luke Hodge has opened up on his fractured relationship with former Hawthorn team-mate Cyril Rioli after the Indigenous great was a no-show at the club’s 100th anniversary celebrations.
Hawthorn’s centenary celebrations over the past week have been soured by the absence of the half-forward, Rioli, who won four premierships with the club between 2008 and 2015, but had been the lead plaintiff in a legal claim against the Hawks that alleged Indigenous players at the club were subjected to a racist culture.
Rioli, a Norm Smith Medallist and three-time All-Australian, was missed by his former team-mates during the celebration event. It is understood he had been in Melbourne but did not attend the match against the Tigers or meet and greets at the club’s training ground in the week.
When asked if he was sad that Rioli did not attend the Hawks’ centenary party, Hodge said to Channel 7: ‘Yeah, of course.
‘Bud [Buddy Franklin] wasn’t there, he was in Perth, he had other reasons, Clarko [Alastair Clarkson] came along and Cyril wasn’t there – when you go through so much with a lot of guys, you want to see all their faces.’
During their anniversary celebrations, a group of former club greats, including Hodge, Jordan Lewis and Alastair Clarkson, paraded the club’s 13 AFL trophies around the MCG ahead of Sam Mitchell’s side’s 65-point win against Richmond. Several former champions were also involved in Mitchell’s pre-match team-talk.
Luke Hodge (pictured) has opened up on his relationship with Cyril Rioli, stating that he and other former Hawthorn stars have been unable to get in contact with the Norm Smith Medallist
Rioli (centre) had been the lead plaintiff in a claim against Hawthorn where he and several other players and family members alleged that they were the victims of racist abuse
‘We understand that Hawthorn and Cyril haven’t come to the stage where I guess Cyril feels comfortable coming back into the football club just yet.
‘You can only [hope], as they say, time heals all wounds, but we’re just hoping that it gets to that stage with Cyril.’
In November, Hawthorn and several Indigenous ex-players and their families came to an agreement that their dispute into allegations of racism that were claimed to have been made by former members of staff.
Former senior coach Alastair Clarkson, assistant Chris Fagan and ex-welfare manager Jason Burt had been accused of racism back in 2022. All three strenuously denied any wrongdoing. AFL investigations had found no adverse findings.
Rioli had been the lead applicant in the claim and, alongside his wife Shannyn Ah Sam-Rioli and ex-players Carl Peterson and Jermaine Miller-Lewis, lodged a claim of unlawful discrimination in the Federal Court. That claim had also included family separations and pressuring pregnancy termination.
The claimants and Hawthorn released a joint statement, which was published on Hawthorn’s website while the players and families were paid an undisclosed sum of money as part of the settlement agreement.
‘Hawthorn is sorry and apologises that the former players, partners, and their families, in either pursuing a football career, or in supporting such a person, experienced ongoing hurt and distress in their time at the Club,’ the statement read.
Hodge was asked by fellow Channel 7 pundit Kane Cornes whether he thinks time will heal the wounds between the player and the club.
Hodge (centre) said he was sad Rioli (right) did not return to the footy club for their recent centenary celebrations
Multiple former Hawks players and champions returned to parade their AFL trophies at the MCG ahead of last weekend’s clash against Richmond
Hawthorn subsequently apologised to Rioli and other Indigenous stars following the settlement of the case
‘I haven’t been able to speak to Cyril,’ he said.
‘I think there’s been a lot of guys… I’ve reached out. I went to Darwin in 2021/22 for filming, tried to call him, got his old number, then got his new number from Hilly [Bradley Hill], tried to call… didn’t get anything back from him.’
He added that he wasn’t the only person who has not heard back from Rioli.
‘So there’s been a number of guys that have reached out to Cyril,’ Hodge said.
‘We left on really good terms.
‘I’ve got messages from Cyril from when his old man was crook, saying: “Family is before football. Go and spend time with your family”.
‘And then when he retired, he sent me a message saying: “Thanks for all the development and all the help”.
‘So I’ve had no issues with Cyril ever, but when he sort of ran into this with Hawthorn, it’s sort of like he’s parted ways with everyone there.
‘There’s very few of the mentors that he spent a lot of time with in that forward line who haven’t been able to connect with him either.’
