Legends Game: Cyril Rioli & Gary Ablett Jr to headline return of exhibition match featuring former AFL greats
The exhibition match will return for the first time since 2019 on August 28 at Marvel Stadium, with Rioli locked in to pull on the boots alongside the likes of Gary Ablett Jr, Nick Riewoldt and Luke Hodge.
The Thursday night clash between the AFL's home-and-away conclusion and the start of the finals series comes 10 years on from the high point of Rioli's career, where he snared the 2015 Norm Smith Medal after putting on a clinic in the grand final win over West Coast to cap Hawthorn's third-straight premiership triumph.
Rioli played the last of his 189 games in early 2018 and has had a limited association with the game at the top level amid the Hawks' racism saga, with the four-time premiership star absent from the club's celebration of last decade's flag 'three-peat' earlier this year.
Seven will broadcast the exhibition clash, with network personalities and footy greats Tim Watson and Shane Crawford to coach the Victorian and All Stars sides respectively.
'We are thrilled to see this iconic event return and for footy fans to be able to watch all the action live and free on Seven and 7plus Sport,' Seven's head of AFL and sport innovation Gary O'Keefe said.
'To see a host of popular personalities, and AFL legends including our own Luke Hodge and Nick Riewoldt come out of retirement for such a great cause is important and will make for exciting viewing.'
The game will raise funds for the Australian Prostate Centre and again honours the legacy of football legend EJ Whitten, who passed away from prostate cancer in 1995.
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