By Scott Spits and Russell Bennett
Hawthorn have announced captain James Sicily will be sidelined until at least after the club’s mid-season bye in round 15 just a week after coach Sam Mitchell responded to speculation about his injury status by saying it was “a storm in a teacup”.
The Hawks on Tuesday said Sicily had succumbed to a “hip/abdominal” issue, and he’ll miss key matches against the Western Bulldogs (this Thursday night) and Adelaide (in Launceston).
James Sicily will miss the Hawks’ key clash with the Bulldogs on Thursday night.Credit: AFL Photos
Hawthorn’s high-performance manager Peter Burge said Sicily’s “strength numbers have come down a little bit” in the past fortnight and the club opted to bring forward a planned mid-season rest for the 168-game versatile veteran.
The club said Sicily didn’t pull up well from last Friday night’s 51-point thrashing by premiership favourites Collingwood at the MCG.
“James is managing a hip/ abdominal issue. From the weekend, he hasn’t pulled up well from the game and is quite sore. We’ve been managing this for a little while, but it certainly hasn’t affected his availability or training recently,” Burge said on Hawthorn’s website.
Mitchell was asked last week about Sicily’s form and his injury status, but denied the defender-cum-forward was in any way hampered.
Hawks premiership great Luke Hodge had said there had been “murmurs” that Sicily was carrying a groin issue and that this could be impacting his kicking, but Mitchell stressed at the time that wasn’t the case.
“His groins are fine, his groins are fine … he is playing every week. There is no reason why his kicking has anything to do with his groins. His groins are fine,” Mitchell said last Wednesday.
“He kicked the ball reasonably well last week, I thought. I am really happy with how he is kicking. I can get you all the kicks that he has done that hardly anyone else in the competition can pull off, and he has done them over the last month. The kicking – that is a storm in a teacup.
“I am not concerned about his kicking.”
Mitchell bristled when pressed further on Sicily last week.
“His groins are fine – he’s playing every week, there’s no reason that his kicking has anything to do with his groins,” he said.
“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.”
Hawthorn’s head doctor said Sicily’s injury was not significant enough to justify his omission before the Collingwood game.
“Unfortunately, James’ injury has flared up post the Collingwood game on Friday night after showing improvement in the weeks prior,” the club’s doctor Liam West said in a statement.
“Having played every game this season, we were always looking to give James an extended break around the bye, so we’ve decided to bring this forward.”
Burge explained that the Hawks were already planning to give Sicily a rest for next Friday night’s game against the Crows.
“But just in the last fortnight, we’ve just noticed that his strength numbers have come down a little bit, and we need them to come back up so we were going to take the opportunity into the bye to take next week off the table and have that fortnight to prepare him for post-bye,” Burge said.
“But we’re now going to take this week as well.
“That’ll take him out of the next two games and we’ll have the bye as well to get some rehabilitation and get his strength numbers back up and get on top of this issue so we can get him back to full training and back to playing football.”
The Hawks estimate key forward Mitch Lewis (knee) is still about three weeks from a return, while star onballer Will Day (foot) is still two to three months away.
Lengthy rehab for Magpie Schultz
Collingwood’s Lachie Schultz will be sidelined for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury after the Magpies opted for a mid-season rehabilitation period for the small forward.
In a statement on the club website on Tuesday, head of high-performance Jarrod Wade said the 27-year-old Schultz sustained a “moderate” tear to the hamstring in his right leg in last Friday night’s clash with the Hawks and the former Docker will be out of action for at least five weeks.
Lachie Schultz talking to teammates after over the win over Fremantle in which he copped a heavy knock.Credit: Getty Images
The injury lay-off continues a turbulent 2025 season for the 117-gamer, who was concussed in an incident with Fremantle’s Jordan Clark in round nine.
In further injury news for the Pies, Pat Lipinski is in concussion protocols after sustaining a head knock during the third term of the game against the Hawks, while key forward Dan McStay (knee) will return to full training this week ahead of the Pies’ King’s Birthday clash with Melbourne on Monday.
Jordan De Goey and Brayden Maynard are still recovering from Achilles and plantar fascia injuries respectively.
Wade said De Goey has started a two-week running program, after which he’ll be assessed on whether he can return to skills training.
Wade said Maynard was “progressing well in his recovery from a plantar fascia rupture”, but added: “Maynard is not expected to be available until post the bye week.”
The Magpies will have their bye in round 14.
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