James Sicily opens up about his tough 2017, what he’s like away from footy and being a leader
FEW players in the AFL made more waves in 2017 than James Sicily. But is the young Hawk really the hothead fans have seen on the field or is there more than meets the eye?
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JAMES Sicily smiles a lot.
He laughs often, too.
He talks slowly and quietly, patiently sips his latte (single shot) and has a passion for another sport that requires a sound temperament — golf.
Indeed, as the Hawthorn defender takes a seat opposite the Herald Sun on a sunny afternoon, you have to wonder if this is the same person who last season made waves as an occasional on-field hothead.
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We meet at the The Last Piece cafe at Waverley Park. It is fitting given Sicily, 22, is at peace for now.
“I’ve got two personalities — one for when I’m on the field and one when I’m off,” he said.
“I’m a pretty chilled, easygoing person, but you can’t really be a chilled, easygoing person on the field.”
Sicily and his teammates have just returned from a New Zealand training camp, with the “brutal” sting in the tail being a 12-hour hike in the mountainous Peel Forest.
At 22, the athletic tall from Melton is at the heart of Hawthorn’s generation next. If the Hawks are undergoing a refurbishment rather than a rebuild, then Sicily’s big leap, sure hands and laser-like kick are what gives supporters hope of a “quick bounce” in the wake of several star-studded departures.
But his 2017 brilliance was juxtaposed with a catalogue of late-season run-ins with rivals and teammates that made Sicily one of the more polarising footy figures of the year.
There was the expletive-laden send-off to Taylor Duryea against Fremantle in Round 18.
“Me and Taylor are good mates. It promoted some open and honest communication, which we can both give and take, but once that’s all said and done it’s all forgotten and we move on,” Sicily said.
There was the runs-ins against Sydney the following week before he gave away seven frees in a narrow loss to Carlton in Round 22 in which Jed Lamb’s constant niggling rattled him.
“I got a lot of learning out of that game,” Sicily said of the Blues meeting.
“I didn’t expect it, it took me by surprise that night and I didn’t really know how to act and I probably wasn’t mature enough to deal with it at the time.”
If the Hawks were forced to show resilience in last week’s torturous Kiwi hike, Sicily knows that for all his blossoming talent, the same thing applies to him inside the fence in 2018.
Where there was one Jed Lamb last season, there will likely be more the next.
“I’m prepared for it if it does happen and no doubt it will at some stage. But I’ll know how to control myself next time,” he said.
“I got a lot of advice from others about how to handle that stuff. Maybe when it comes around again I adopt a more selfless role and while it might not be my day, I could make it someone else’s day so they can be a lot more damaging.
“I know sometimes I need to harness it the right way and I can go over the edge at times. But at the same time I think that’s when I play my best footy.
“I’ve always had a bit of whiteline fever. I don’t like getting beaten and I guess I have a bit of that ‘whatever it takes’ mentality. A lot of guys like the passion and competitiveness, but it’s just about making sure it’s not detrimental to the team.”
One thing Sicily thinks will continue to help him is the belief that seeing is believing. The backman, who lives with his girlfriend of three years Emma, devotes a set period of time each week to being alone with his thoughts.
“I’m really into visualisation before a game. A lot of positive thinking and then preparing my mind for certain situations,” he said.
“It’s something I really cracked down on this year and I think it helped me be more consistent and to not just go with the flow all the time.
“I aim for one hour before bed to have a good think about it and then I switch off. I might go for a walk to put some thoughts through my brain, think of some plays or think of me doing something; a certain kick or a certain pattern.
“Then the next day in the car on the way to the game I switch on and get myself up again.
“I think it helps you play on instinct because you’ve seen something in your head before you’ve done it and then you see it on the field and it clicks for you.”
It certainly clicked for Sicily in 2017. His transformation from inconsistent forward to aggressive intercepting defender was one of the success stories of a Hawthorn campaign that saw it miss finals for the first time since 2009.
With injuries to Grant Birchall, Ben Stratton and James Frawley gutting the backline, Sicily was part of the glue that helped hold it together.
He said the bonding process was only getting stronger after a pre-season getaway to Queenstown that the veterans raved about and the kids took confidence from.
“We had a solid training block for the first four or five days in Queenstown and then a four-and a-half hour bus trip to the middle of nowhere for the brutal stuff — a 12-hour hike for 40km in the Peel Forest.
“It was pretty solid and a lot of us had a stage where we were battling a few mental demons. A lot of boys stepped up and pushed those guys through, whether by grabbing their bag or offering some support and encouragement.
“It was about bringing the group closer together. There’s a few new faces here so it’s about making sure there’s no divide between the senior players and the young guys coming through.”
The recent past at Hawthorn is as bright as it gets in this game, but Sicily was confident the near-future would be positive despite the ravages of time claiming some of the biggest names in the club’s history.
“I don’t think we’re going to drop off,” he said.
“The standards we set ourselves aren’t going anywhere. The boys are refreshed after a 10-week holiday, which we don’t normally get and everyone is cracking into training.
“Our goal is probably the same as every year; try to finish top four to give us the best chance to win silverware.
“That’s what we’re all here to do. We’re all here to win and that hasn’t changed.”
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