The 2017 season will be much the same for Cyril Rioli, despite a "different" feel around the Hawks this pre-season.
Speaking to SEN on Tuesday, Cyril dismissed claims that he would be playing an extended role in the Hawks midfield this year in light of the off-season departures of Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis.
“Myself, Paul Puopolo and Luke Breust have been getting a chance in the midfield in bursts and I think we’ll just stick to that,” Rioli told The Run Home.
Read: Liam Shiels defends the Hawks' youngsters
Rioli enters 2017 having achieved back-to-back All Australian honours in the previous two years, enjoying arguably the best year of his career in 2016 as he kicked 47 goals from 21 games.
“I’m happy where I am in the forward-line but if I’m needed in the midfield then I can go in for a quick rotation".
The Hawks endured a challenging JLT Community Series winning one of their three games, but Rioli refuted that this signified a Hawks decline but rather a natural period of adjustment.
"We've got a lot of new faces and lot of young ones as well," Rioli said.
"It has been a lot different but we have just tried to stick to our normal pre-season, stick to what we have done in the past that has really helped us get to where we are".
