As so often happens, the game exploded when Cyril Rioli arrived on the scene.
It was 14 minutes into the huge round 22 clash between Hawthorn and Carlton, and the Hawks held a one-point lead.
Blues defender Michael Jamison had just taken a regulation hand-ball in space inside his defensive 50 from teammate Jeremy Laidler when Rioli hit from behind at pace.
Jamison did not stand a chance.
Rioli’s deceleration was such he was able to stop almost as soon as he latched on to the opponent, his head moving alongside Jamison’s left shoulder, and his legs screaming to a halt ahead of the flustered defender.
Rioli’s left arm dragged Jamison's left arm backwards, the action akin to a wrestling move. With his right hand, Rioli tried to snatch the ball away.
The crowd roared like a boxing crowd does when the champion cops a combination that makes him stagger and everything quickens. Rioli kept working until the ball fell free, as though he was a cowboy lassoing cattle.
In an effort to recover, the Carlton defenders began to overstretch, the fact they were reaching forward and bending at the waist an indication they had lost their poise. They were desperate, panicked, forced to accelerate beyond their capability. Isaac Smith pounced and hand-balled to Luke Breust, who kicked a goal for the Hawks.
It was almost as though Rioli had wanted to bring to life the words his coach Alastair Clarkson had used to describe the emerging champ’s value on 3AW days earlier: “He not only tackles the opposition but somehow extracts the ball as well and pops out with the footy and turns what is an opposition rebound into an offensive play for us, and that is his great beauty as a player in my view.”
Rioli’s father, also named Cyril, was a brilliant tackler in Darwin. Many a player learned quickly ‘Junior’ was not someone you could step around. His son, ‘Junior Boy’ has perfected the tackle that follows a chase-down, exhibiting it weekly in the AFL.
He has also introduced a tackle no other player has been able to regularly perform, tearing one arm of his opponent off the ball and forcing it behind his back, automatically dispossessing him.
In 2008, speaking on 5AA, Adelaide (now Gold Coast) defender Nathan Bock revealed that to those in its grip, the Rioli tackle is almost mystifying: “It was pretty much the perfect tackle. I tried to take him on and put a bit of a fend off on him, but he seemed to be able to lock my arms up or lock me up somehow.”
Read the full story in this week's edition of the AFL Record, available at all finals.
