Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson said his side were preparing to play without one of its key men.
Hawthorn are preparing to go into its finals campaign without speedy small forward Cyril Rioli as he struggles to overcome a hamstring injury.
Rioli has battled hamstring issues for the past two seasons and hasn’t taken to the field since round 15.
Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson said Rioli was behind schedule and his side were preparing to play without him.
“He’s got an injury that’s pretty serious, he’s missed a lot of footy and he had a scan two or three weeks ago that showed his progress hadn’t advanced to the level we’d hoped it would,” Clarkson said.
“But that doesn’t mean he’s been ruled out either.
“We’re going to give him every chance to try and play, but we’re not going to put him and our team at risk either.
“We’ve been able to manage OK without him thus far, and if we have to go through finals without him again, that’s what we’ll do.”
Rioli has only played a combined 26 games over the past two seasons, 15 of which have come in 2014.
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