HAWTHORN appears to be closer to working out a resolution with star forward Cyril Rioli, who has been on personal leave since mid-June.

The 28-year-old is now back in Melbourne after returning to his hometown of Darwin to be with his family.

It is the second period of personal leave granted to Rioli in the past 12 months. He took some time at the end of last year to spend time with his father – who had suffered a heart attack several months earlier – and returned to pre-season training at the start of February.

Coach Alastair Clarkson said the club was in daily contact with Rioli's manager Adam Ramanauskas.

"We're getting closer to working out where it's all going to unfold in the next couple of weeks," Clarkson told Fox Footy’s On The Couch on Monday night.

"It's just an enormously difficult situation and a touch of sadness attached to it, because we'd love to have the little No.33 running around for us.

"He's done some pretty special things for us over the last 10 years and we'd be hoping at some point in time he gets back on deck and plays some footy for us."

Rioli has not played since round four, initially due to a medial ligament strain in his knee.

Clarkson said if the indefinite personal leave went for an extended period, the club would need to have a discussion with his management. Rioli is contracted for another two seasons.

"He's got some issues he needs to address and that's excluding him from being able to play the game that he loves just for the minute," Clarkson said.

"We're hoping those issues can sort themselves out and he'll want to return to playing footy. We also know that they're complicated, they're deep and all we want to do is provide him with the support we possibly can."

Clarkson also shed a bit more light on his own future at Hawthorn. The four-time premiership coach has been leading the Hawks since 2005 and is currently contracted until the end of 2019.

He said he was unlikely to take the reins at another club in the future.

"If I was to leave tomorrow [there's a chance], but probably my preference and the club's preference is that there's not,” he said.

"At some point in time, we'll sit down and work out if there's a better person to coach the footy club.

"Right at this point in time … I'd be pretty certain that my tenure at Hawks will be my last. That may still last for some time, I might add too, because I'm really excited about the next wave of players coming through our club."