Car wash, Bunnings and the super deal was all but done

The conversation started in a Darwin carwash, and in coming weeks was continued in the aisles of Bunnings.

NT Football League premiership coach Chris Baksh and fellow Top End legend Cam Ilett were the ones who got the ball rolling, as it were.

And their Tongala connection eventually sealed the deal with Hawthorn four-time premiership player and Norm Smith medallist Cyriel Rioli agreeing to a comeback.

Albeit for just one game.

At this stage.

Because after inspiring Tonny’s victory against Cobram at the weekend, Rioli revealed he had told Tongala officials not to rush his clearance back to the NTFL.

After playing in the first, and then back-to-back, premiership with the Jabiru Bombers in 2025 and earlier this year, Rioli has retired from the big leagues but has not closed the door on playing more games with Tongala.

Ilett still laughs about how the drawn-out negotiations to bring Rioli south started in Baksh’s carwash and carried on whenever they bumped into each other at Bunnings and around town.

“I’ve known Junior for years and was lucky enough to play with his dad at St Mary’s,” Ilett explains.

“I now live in Adelaide, and fly over most weekends to play here,” he adds.

“I’ll probably get in another four or five and then see whether we make the finals.”

Ilett says once the Rioli talks began getting traction, Tongala also started to get involved so there were conversations going on everywhere.

There are probably stranger stories around how some clubs get to sign on a marquee player for a feature appearance, but it is highly unlikely any of them started in a Darwin carwash, continued in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs and sealed the deal in the tiny town of Tongala.

Ilett says the team certainly lifted for the big day, everyone wanting to show their stuff alongside such an unparalleled benchmark.

“The playing group was fantastic, it was tough early but we never let them get too far away, and once we got going, and the crowd got going, it turned everything around.”

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