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AFL 2020: Scans confirm the worst news for Hawthorn defender James Sicily

Hawthorn’s ugly 2020 season has gone from bad to worse with confirmation star defender James Sicily has suffered a season-ending ACL injury.

Hawthorn’s James Sicily will undergo a knee reconstruction. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images
Hawthorn’s James Sicily will undergo a knee reconstruction. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

Hawthorn’s ugly 2020 season has gone from bad to worse with confirmation star defender James Sicily has suffered a season-ending ACL injury.

Sicily had to be helped from the field after a collision in the final moments of the side’s loss to West Coast in Perth on Sunday.

The 25-year-old had scans before the team flew out to its new Adelaide hub with the worst news revealed.

“This is obviously devastating for Sis, his teammates and the wider Hawthorn family,” Hawks general manager of football Graeme Wright said.

“He has developed into a leader both on and off field over the last few years and was having an excellent year personally this season.

“He is a man of great resilience, though, and we have full faith he will be diligent in his recovery over the next 12 months.”

Sicily will undergo a knee reconstruction and miss most of the 2021 season.

Should the season play out on a normal schedule, he would not be back until just before the finals.

The Hawks have slumped to 16th on the ladder with just four wins from 11 games this season and have begun plotting a path towards a rebuild.

Russell Gould
Russell Gould Sports editor

Russell Gould is a senior sportswriter with nearly 20 years' experience across a wide variety of sports including AFL, cricket, golf, rugby league, rugby and horse racing. Starting as a sports reporter at MX, then the Herald Sun, he has written news and in-depth features as well as covering major events in both Melbourne and around the world, from the 2003 rugby World Cup, though to the 2019 Ashes in England, two US Masters at Augusta and every Boxing Day Test since 2010. Having also spent four years as the Herald Sun sports chief of staff, he is now the founding sports editor of NCA NewsWire.

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/afl-2020-scans-confirm-the-worst-news-for-hawthorn-defender-james-sicily/news-story/4c39c401091329fc61fb40d81f4372d2