Cyril Rioli’s shock retirement will hand Hawthorn significant salary cap room to land a star player

CYRIL Rioli’s retirement will be mourned by the AFL world but list guru Gary Buckenara says his departure might mean the Hawks can again be instant flag contenders.

Cyril Rioli retired from football this morning. Picture: Michael Klein

GARY Buckenara says the Hawks would be instant flag contenders if they could land two established stars using cap room created by Cyril Rioli’s retirement.

The former Hawks list manager and club great said yesterday Rioli’s retirement would be mourned by the AFL world but also provided great opportunity for Hawthorn.

Hawks president Jeff Kennett yesterday told the Herald Sun the timing of Rioli’s retirement would help the club aggressively target recruits for the 2019 season.

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Rioli’s retirement means the $1.3 million of cap space they had committed to him in 2019-20 will not be paid under a mutual agreement.

Tom Lynch is firmly in Hawthorn’s sights but Rioli’s retirement will allow them to also target another midfielder or even a small forward replacement.

Securing Gold Coast captain Lynch as well as Adelaide free agent Rory Sloane would be a masterstroke typical of Hawthorn’s audacious list strategies.

“Cyril’s money now goes into a war chest so they would be well positioned salary cap wise with even more money to spread over two really good players,” he said.

“I would make a big difference in terms of where the club is heading. If you could add Sloane and Lynch, players of that type, then it puts you right back into calculations again.

“There would be room now Cyril has departed. They already had some room prior to that but they will be very active in trying to chase specific players.

“Who that is only they will know but they would be in position to look at two very good free agents.”

Cyril Rioli has announced his retirement from the AFL. Picture: Michael Klein

Hawthorn has had a strong indication for much of the year that Rioli was unlikely to see out his contract, giving them time to plan for life without his freakish talents.

The Hawks won the 2015 premiership without one player in the top-30 AFL wages but are coming around to the fact they will need to pay $1 million a year to land a big fish.

Kennett said yesterday Rioli had been selfless to the end, his July retirement helping the club’s list management.

“The thing people haven’t picked up is him deciding to retire now instead of at the end of this season actually puts the interests of the club before his own,” he said.

“He has been thinking about it since October last year, so this is not new to us. But by going now he has allowed the club to plan for its player requirements for 2019, so it’s very generous.”

Lynch will have surgery on his PCL next week after a delayed that helped a cut on his knee heal before surgery.

But despite waves of speculation about which of Collingwood, Richmond or Hawthorn are favourites, he is yet to even decide on his future.

Will the Hawks now target Tom Lynch? Picture: Getty Images

He plans to return to the Gold Coast after surgery to help his teammates and is yet to meet any coaches or players from rival clubs.

Hawthorn’s ability to rehabilitate his knee has been pitched as a potential selling point given the elite skills of fitness boss Andrew Russell.

But his camp is aware Richmond was just as proficient in helping Dion Prestia recover after he arrived at Punt Road after knee surgery.

All of Collingwood, Richmond and Hawthorn are would find it equally difficult to trade for Lynch if the Suns matched a free agency bid for him.

None of them will likely have a top-10 draft pick, which would mean they would have to trade players or use future picks in a package for the Suns.

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