CYRIL Rioli's recovery from a hamstring injury has been slow, but the star Hawk is still on track to return in the finals.
 
Reports surfaced on Thursday claiming Rioli had suffered a setback in his rehabilitation.
 
Hawthorn denied the reports, but admitted Rioli's recovery had been slower than it hoped and that he had been receiving ongoing scans.
 
"Regular surveillance scans on Rioli have shown his injury has been steadily improving," general manager of football Chris Fagan said.

"Scans showed the tendon healing process slowed a little."

Fagan said Tuesday's original diagnosis had Rioli missing 2-4 weeks, which was now closer to four.

Rioli has not played since injuring his hamstring tendon against Gold Coast in Launceston in round 15.
 
The livewire was originally expected to miss between 8-10 weeks, with the full recovery period stretching to week two of the finals.

More recently, a report on Hawthorn’s website claimed Rioli might be in line for a round 22 or 23 comeback.
 
The small forward trained lightly with the Hawks' main group on Monday for about 20 minutes, but he was not on the track at Waverley on Thursday.