AFL 2025: Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell addresses James Sicily’s injury concern

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has addressed James Sicily’s peculiar injury status and revealed his hopeful timeline of return.

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has cleared the air over the injury concern to star captain James Sicily.

Mitchell last week strongly defended the fitness of Sicily for him to later be ruled out for at least the next two weeks with a hip-abdominal issue.

Sicily will miss the Hawks’ season-shaping matches with Western Bulldogs on Thursday night and Adelaide next Friday.

Mitchell conceded his comments “didn’t age too well” but doubled down on his previous stance of Sicily playing uninjured.

“We have management of lots of different players across the season of course, and at no point has he been a chance to not play,” Mitchell said.

“That was my frustration last week. It didn’t age too well, obviously … at no point have we even considered not playing him, it hasn’t even been close.

“There’s injuries where ‘is he going to get to the line? Is he going to be able to play this week?’ He’s never been in that category, he’s definitely been playing every week – obviously it doesn’t age well when it comes out like that.

Sam Mitchell admits his comments on James Sicily last week ‘didn’t age well’, but he has doubled down on the captain playing uninjured. Picture: James Wiltshire/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“He got something that we didn’t expect, it’s been tracking, getting slightly better each week. His numbers on the screen have been getting slightly better.

“Then this week he had a big progression, so we need to get him right.”

Mitchell said Sicily’s injury concern had nothing to do with the groin and was in a “higher spot”.

The injury, according to Mitchell, can be “unpredictable” but he still expected Sicily to return on time for Hawthorn’s match with North Melbourne after the bye.

“You don’t see that (the injury) often, we have had one recently a couple of years ago which can settle down in a couple weeks, but they can take a little bit longer,” he said.

“We’re hopeful the two weeks can be a maximum. He would probably play the third we hope, but there’s a bye then, so on the other side of the bye hopefully we get him back.

“One of the downsides of the injury is that he hasn’t been able to train a lot. While playing has never been a risk, his actual training consistency hasn’t been there.

“Obviously, that makes it a little bit tougher to perform on the weekend, but he’s such a proud sort of guy he’s always trying to train, always trying to do a bit more.”

Hawthorn has lost three matches in a row, while the Western Bulldogs are fresh off a bye.

Originally published as AFL 2025: Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell addresses James Sicily’s injury concern