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Superstar Cyril Rioli's return to football for his home-town team, the Tiwi Bombers, has sparked an enormous buzz among players and Top End locals alike.
- After retiring last year aged 28, the Hawthorn champion is returning to a football role
- Rioli will serve as one of four assistant coaches for the Tiwi Bombers
- He has not ruled out hitting the field himself, but says helping younger players is the focus
But the four-time premiership player isn't donning footy boots — yet — or even a coach's title.
The 29-year-old will be an assistant coach to the Tiwi Island's NTFL Men's Premier League team — and one of four, at that.
The choice of comeback makes sense, given Rioli's unexpected call to finish up with Hawthorn last year in order to spend time with his family on the Tiwi Islands.
"I just want to be involved in sort of a different role," he said.
"I just sort of want to be involved in football in a way that I'm comfortable with, helping younger guys in the team."
The Tiwi Islands are famous for producing some of the best footballers in the country, including the Rioli dynasty from Melville Island.
"If Cyril put his hand up to be water boy, if he put his hand up to be a runner [or if it's as an] assistant coach, then he's more than welcome to be whatever he wants," said the club's general manager, Leigh Crossman.
And while Cyril — or "Junior Boy", after his footy-playing father Cyril Senior — didn't ruling out playing for the Tiwi Bombers, he made it clear being on field is not his priority.
"[It's] pretty unknown at this stage, I'd rather give a teenager or someone a bit younger a chance than me to play, so it's still up in the air," he said.
"It could happen, it could not.
"But at the end of the day, it's about a young guy getting a game."
The Tiwi Bombers was initially started with the goal of tackling a too-high youth suicide rate, education and health issues, Leigh Crossman said.
"I think that's what probably appealed to Cyril to get back involved, because first and foremost he's a Tiwi Islander."
Coach Jamie Scymgour said he was "quite shocked" when Rioli put his hand up to help.
"Someone of his calibre and what he's done in his career, we were very happy and blessed [to have him]", he said.
"And the younger guys — when he's just around them he lifts them up just with his presence."
Topics: australian-football-league, sport, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, darwin-0800, tiwi-0810