It took “sensitive” and lengthy negotiations to get Alastair Clarkson to attend Hawthorn’s centenary celebrations at the MCG on Sunday, but one key figure remains estranged from the AFL club and was nowhere to be seen.

Clarkson was one of the dozens of club greats to attend the momentous 100-year celebration, but 2015 Norm Smith medallist and four-time premiership champion Cyril Rioli was not there.

Now coach of North Melbourne, Clarkson figured prominently in the pre-match ceremony, back in brown-and-gold for the day, after being estranged from the club since his 2021 exit, largely due to the Hawthorn racism saga.

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today

The 57-year-old joined retired greats Luke Hodge and Jordan Lewis, among others, to present the spoils of last decade’s three-peat when the Hawks’ 13 premiership cups were paraded for the crowd.

Rioli, meantime, sadly remains at odds with the club, despite the racism scandal — at least in the eyes of the law, Hawthorn, and the formerly accused parties — coming to a close last year.

Caroline Wilson told The Agenda Setters on Monday night that, in the leadup to the event, there was a real possibility that neither Clarkson nor Rioli would be there.

Clarkson — who coached the Hawks to their 2008 premiership and the 2013-2015 three-peat — eventually agreed to be part of the day but, as the current coach of an opposition club, kept his distance where appropriate.

“It wasn’t easy getting Alastair Clarkson there. It’s great he was there,” Wilson said.

“He wasn’t down in the rooms (before or after the game, as others were), there were big questions about whether he would attend the function, but he did in the end agree and want to go to the game and be part of that.

“There were sensitive negotiations, they went on for most of the week, over Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday — great he was there.”

Craig Hutchison said his attendance “was a slight act of healing” in the wake of Clarkson’s fallout with the club.

Stream full episodes of The Agenda Setters for free, live or on-demand at 7plus

Wilson said the presence of an Indigenous leader at the celebration was a key part of the healing process.

Despite that though, the same could not be said for Rioli.

“It was an unbelievable celebration, and people there at the function called it a line in the sand moment,” Wilson said.

“Aunty Joy was there, she spoke — strong Indigenous leader, Aunty Joy.

“But there was sadness, for me, that there were some who weren’t there. And I don’t want to be a party pooper, but it’s just so sad that one of the all-time greats, Norm Smith Medal winner, four-time premiership player, Cyril Rioli, didn’t go.

“He was in Melbourne and he didn’t go.”

Hutchison said he understood why Rioli remained absent.

“You can understand his healing and his view on that,” he said.

“I think it would have been a bridge too far for him to go, in the situation that they’ve been in, this soon.

“He was in Melbourne supporting his family which is great, but yeah, too hard for him to attend on the day.”

Separately, though Clarkson’s presence at the ground was well received, his attire wasn’t necessarily — certainly not in the eyes of Wilson or Kane Cornes, who disagreed with Hutchison and Nick Riewoldt that it was OK for him to wear a Hawthorn scarf, despite coaching a rival club.

“Look, call me old fashioned; I don’t know, when you’re the senior coach of another club, that you need to wear the Hawthorn scarf,” Wilson said.

Hutchison responded: “Brad Hill did too, didn’t he? He plays for St Kilda.”

Wilson: “He’s a coach. He’s a coach of an (opposition club)... the minute I (cringed) — you’re the North Melbourne coach, you were coaching North Melbourne two days ago!”