AFL 2025: James Sicily and Josh Gibson on all things Hawthorn ahead of centenary match

Josh Gibson was playing his last season in the AFL when James Sicily trotted down back to join him defence. The pair chat all things Hawthorn ahead of the club’s centenary match.

Star defender Josh Gibson had just been crowned as Hawthorn’s best-and-fairest winner in a premiership season when he first came across a brash, hard-edged kid who looked as if he had a liberal dose of that old-style Hawks’ combative spirit.

It was late 2013 and Gibson had two more premierships to win (not to mention another Peter Crimmins Medal in a flag year).

The kid had just been drafted to the Hawks – as a forward – with pick 56 in the national draft.

His name was James Sicily, and the pair would get to know each other a little better across the next four seasons, especially when Sicily transformed from a forward into a defender.

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Hawthorn skipper James Sicily who currently wears 6 with Josh Gibson who previously wore the number. Picture: Michael Klein

“We didn’t like him initially as he was a forward,” Gibson joked this week as the two most recent Hawthorn No.6s linked up at Waverley to help launch the club’s 100th anniversary of its entry into the VFL-AFL.

“Sic always had that hard-edged, hard-nosed attitude, which was good … he has got that little streak in him, the Luke Hodge-type streak, which makes them great competitors.

“He has been great for the club and he has become a really strong leader. When your number gets handed on to someone, and you get to see that person take it to another level, it is really exciting. I’ve really enjoyed watching him (from afar).”

Sicily will lead the Hawks out on Sunday for their centenary match against Richmond at the MCG, in what promises to be a birthday bash unlike any other for the club that has won 13 premierships across the past 64 years.

READ: BEST AND WORST HAWKS JUMPERS OVER 100 YEARS RANKED

Gibson will be there, watching on proudly, and he said with a smile that he has got used to the fact that the No.6 jumpers in the crowd these days are no longer for him.

“I am slowly getting my head around going to the game this weekend and rocking up and talking to a kid wearing the No.6, and having him say to me: ‘Who the heck are you?’” Gibson said.

“I will have to explain to him what I did, but the kid will say to me: ‘I’m here for James Sicily’.”

Past and present Hawthorn captains Sam Mitchell, Michael Tuck, Emily Bates, James Sicily, Gary Ayres and Jason Dunstall. Picture: Michael Klein

PAY IT FORWARD

As far as the current Hawks captain goes, Sicily says he might not be where he is today without the support and tutelage of players such as Gibson, who have carried on a long Hawthorn tradition of fostering young talent in the hope of leaving the club in a better place.

“I was incredibly fortunate to be able to learn off someone like ‘Gibbo’, especially with my change of position (which came in Gibson’s last year of 2017),” Sicily said.

“What stands out for me with Gibbo was just how consistent and reliable he was. He knew exactly what his role was. He was always a great preparer for games and a great trainer. I can always remember the coaches saying ‘we just want to do this drill at around 50 or 60 per cent’ and that was never in Gibbo’s repertoire.

“That’s something I learnt from Gibbo. If we start a drill and they say: ‘Let the forwards mark it’, I will always be like ‘No!’.

Gibson Luke Hodge with the 2015 Premiership Cup. Picture: Alex Coppel.

“I also had Luke Hodge, Grant Birchall and Brian Lake … there were so many great defenders to learn from.

“‘Gunners’ (Jack Gunston) and ‘Punky’ (Luke Breust) are really leading the way with that (mentoring) at the club now. They have been given so much by the club … and they feel as though they are in debt to be able to pay it forward to the next person.

“It is a great culture and legacy that … Gibbo, Sam Mitchell and all those boys set and we will definitely be trying to keep that legacy alive in trying to pass it down to the next person.”

WHY THE DEFENDERS WANT TO OWN NO.6

Gibson, now 41, played all of his 160 games with the Hawks in the No.6 jumper (with his other 65 games at North Melbourne in No.38), and he couldn’t have been happier when it was handed to Sicily after his retirement at the end of 2017.

Sicily started his career in 21, but has worn No.6 since 2018.

“We are slowly turning it into a defender’s number, which is nice,” Gibson said proudly.

“If you are No.23 and No.19, it’s often been with the forwards, and the midfielders have had No.3, No.5 and No.9, so it is good to (now) have a defenders’ number.”

Sicily agreed: “I will definitely be angling to keep it that way, and hopefully ‘Mitch’ (coach Sam Mitchell) falls in line with that request.”

“What the club has done well is to establish and continue the connection with the person who has played in the jumper before you.

“It is really important that these players who have done so much for the club … to still feel connected to the club and to the (current) players.

“We always remember the people who helped to shape the club.”

Gibson has enjoyed watching Sicily’s development from a passionate, sometimes wayward backman – who had his fair share of run-ins with the match review officer – into the more disciplined defender who took over as captain after Ben McEvoy retired and returned to farming.

“I remember seeing him at the start, seeing him in leadership meetings, and thinking: ‘What’s this kid going to turn out to be? Is he going to be staying at Hawthorn? Will he end up being a forward or a backman?’,” Gibson said.

“To see how he has grown has been really exciting to watch.

“He is combative, he has a great appetite for the contest and that’s why he is such a great intercept mark.

Sicily has become a star of the competition. Picture: Michael Klein

“He has shown he can play at both ends of the ground and can play tall and small. You have to have that little bit of angry streak in you (to be a good defender), it’s that little bit of fight in the dog.

“He has learnt to harness that and direct it into the right areas instead of men (opponents) and free kicks and that kind of stuff.

“That’s what you want from a captain, to have that little bit of fire in your belly.”

Aside from the many lessons Gibson and his contemporaries showed Sicily in his career infancy, there was one other thing that he will be forever grateful for.

“Back in the day, I did admire Gibbo’s fashion sense and he has definitely influenced some of my expressions in terms of what I like to wear,” Sicily said.

“He used to roll with some pretty cool kits back in the day. He was always looking sharp.”

The Hawthorn skipper has had a challenging few weeks. Picture: Michael Klein

SICILY ADDRESS HIS FORM ISSUES

By his own admission, Sicily has struggled for form in the first two months of this season, but he remains confident he can turn it around with hard work.

While the Hawks are 5-2 heading into Sunday’s game, Sicily maintains there is a lot of team improvement left, and he is keen to rediscover his own kicking strengths again after a tough couple of weeks.

His coach backed him in on Friday, and Gibson did the same this week.

Sicily said: “Hopefully I can find my kicking boots and my hands again. The last couple of weeks I have not been able to kick well or catch.

“I’m not trying to hide. I am giving myself the opportunity to do the things I am good at, but I am just not executing at the moment.”

He could see the funny side when one of the Hawks favourite sons, five-time premiership hero Robert DiPierdomenico, yelled out to him at a gathering of club greats on Wednesday: ‘Do you want me to teach you how to kick?’

Gibson said Sicily had always been a sweet kick and backed him to swiftly get back to his high standards.

“I am sure ‘Sic’ would acknowledge he is not having his most amazing start to the year so far, but there are so many roles for captains to play,” Gibson said.

“Good captains put their team first.

“He has missed a few kicks but that is unlike him. I am not worried. I am definitely not calling him yet with an offer to teach him how to kick the footy.

“He is a beautiful kick of the ball … he is captaining well and his form will turn around fast.”

A CENTENARY OF THE BROWN AND GOLD

As much as he enjoyed his first four seasons at North Melbourne, Gibson knew he had walked into something special the moment he stepped into Hawthorn.

“You just felt the professionalism of the place,” he said. “The players have played a huge role in winning all those premierships over the years, but you don’t have success without the strong foundations we had from upstairs.

“Footy is not the real world, so you have that special time in your life. I love what I do now, but don’t get wrong, there is nothing better than getting paid to run around with your mates and being healthy, and competing in the game you love and building friendships with people from all walks of life.

“It sort of sets the mould for young footballers coming to the club. You walk into the Hawks’ nest and you see all of those premiership cups and you feel like you are walking into an organisation that loves success and wants to be consistently fighting for that.

“It steels your mindset about trying to lift that premiership cup on the last Saturday in September.”

Sicily hasn’t done that yet, but it’s something that drives him every day.

He knows a cavalcade of premiership heroes will be attending the Hawks’ centenary celebrations and that the club has won at least one flag in every decade since the 1960s.

“It is remarkable … Hopefully we can keep the ‘premiership a decade’ streak going … We are excited for the future. Hopefully we can add a 14th one there at some stage.”