Sam Mitchell bristles over James Sicily question amid criticism of Hawks skipper

Yahoo

28-05-2025

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has bristled at questions around the form and fitness of captain James Sicily, and dismissed suggestions he's carrying a groin injury that is affecting his performances. The Hawks were marked as AFL premiership contenders after winning their first five games of the season but they're coming off back-to-back losses against Gold Coast and Brisbane, ahead of Friday night's blockbuster against ladder-leaders Collingwood at the MCG.
Sicily's displays at the back for Hawthorn have come under the microscope, and the All-Australian's influence on contests has been well down on his best season in 2023. Sicily averaged around 10 marks per game in that campaign but that number has fallen to a little over six in 2025. His kicking percentage has also been well down on previous years.
Amid the criticism of the Hawthorn skipper's distribution of the footy and presence at the back, Essendon great Matthew Lloyd was among those to suggest he's been affected by a lingering groin injury and should be rested. "There's injuries you can play with, but groins you can't," Lloyd said on Footy Classified. "I remember James Hird took one into a grand final in 2001 and he just couldn't push off. He played on Brad Scott and he just couldn't get off him. He's better off not playing."
But Mitchell is refusing to buy into that narrative and insists Sicily's groin is not an issue and that the 30-year-old has been playing well, despite the backlash around him. "The groins aren't an issue. He's working really hard on his game," the Hawthorn coach said in his Wednesday press conference. "He played really well last week.
"The thing about Sic is he's led us really well ... his leadership has been really strong through the tougher periods, in particular. You look at the last couple of years. When we've needed players to stand up, he's often been that guy. Has he played perfect footy this year? Of course not, but no-one has - but I thought he improved significantly last week."
Sicily's kicking percentage of 70.4 this season is way down on his career-high of 82.1 per cent in 2023 and almost 10 per cent worse than it was last year. But after being pressed further about whether that might have something to do with issues around Sicily's groin, Mitchell appeared a little irritated as he snapped back at reporters.
"His groins are fine - he's playing every week, there's no reason that his kicking has anything to do with his groins," he insisted. "Go watch all of his kicks and tell me which ones you think he could do better.
"Bring me back, show me some vision, but I'm really happy with how he's kicking. I can get you all the kicks he's done, that hardly anyone in the competition can pull off, and he's done them over the last month. That's a storm in a teacup."
Friday night's match against competition leaders Collingwood continues a tough stretch of fixtures for Mitchell's Hawks, who then face the Western Bulldogs and Adelaide before their round-15 bye. But the Hawthorn coach says despite suffering successive defeats, he doesn't feel there's any need to hit the panic button.
"You're all much more frustrated as a media group than we are. We look at our game earlier in the year and we were saying we're not quite as good as that," he said. "We're looking at it now and saying we're not quite as bad as that, either." If the Hawks hope to beat the Pies they'll need to limit the effectiveness of midfield meastro Nick Daicos, whose brilliance came to the fore against North Melbourne last round when the game was in the balance.
with AAP