James Sicily has discovered to hold what he calls the bags of getting a repute as an AFL hothead.
When Sicily scuffled with teammate Sam Butler in an intraclub hit-out final month, after all the media zeroed in on the incident.
But the truth is that whereas the Hawks’ key defender was fined twice final season for on-field incidents, it has been a number of seasons since he was final suspended.
Sicily won’t ever be a choir boy on the sector, however his excellent 2022 season demonstrated his capability to channel that aggression correctly.
“I’m quite comfortable with where it sits, in terms of people’s perception of me and white-line fever,” he advised AAP.
“I understand that whenever I do something, it’s going to be ‘there it is’, but it’s not necessarily the case.
“But it is the mattress I made and I simply must take care of that.”
He said the scuffle with Butler was a sign of how determined the young Hawks are to improve as they go through a rebuild of the list under coach Sam Mitchell.
“I really feel like all of the physicality and our teammates is due to how shut we’re as a bunch – it is like preventing along with your little brother,” he mentioned.
“You by no means need your little brother to beat you, however when he does, you get the shits.”
Sicily also is happy to not take a backward step off the field, either.
One example was a radio interview with All Australian selectors Kane Cornes and Nathan Buckley in the last few weeks.
Sicily was considered very unlucky not to make the final All Australian team last year after his stellar form.
When Cornes and Buckley asked him how he felt about not making the final 22, he did not shy away from the discussion.
“I feel they had been a bit rattled by that – they had been most likely anticipating a straight bat. I assumed stuff it, I’ll give it to them, a little bit of tongue in cheek,” he said with a grin.
Sicily is among a big group of new AFL captains this season, and he is honoured to lead the Hawks after serving as acting skipper for much of last season.
“How do I really feel – a combination of issues – excited, privileged, nervous, scared, a variety of feelings,” he mentioned.
“I did need it. I had no management aspirations as a child or after I began taking part in footy.
“When I got to Hawthorn, I never thought I’d be a captain. But over time, you feel a sense of responsibility.
“You wish to do it and also you (really feel such as you) might do it.”
Hawthorn’s season begins on Sunday week towards arch-rivals Essendon on the MCG.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
