James Sicily (born 6 January 1995) is a professional

Australian rules footballer Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

who plays as a forward and defender for the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawt ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL).

Early career

Sicily's junior career was spent playing for the

Keilor Football Club The Keilor Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is an Australian rules football club located in Keilor, Victoria, north west of Melbourne. The club originated in 1877, formed at a general meeting at the Waggoner's Arms Hotel. In 1926, the club b ...

. In 2013, Sicily kicked 26 goals from 16 games for the Western Jets and represented Vic Metro at the National Championships.

AFL career

Sicily was drafted by the

with the fifty-sixth pick in the 2013 AFL draft. In 2014, he was widely considered Box Hill’s best player in the losing grand final, kicking a team-high three goals, and finishing with 15 disposals and five marks. He made his AFL debut against in round 2, 2015 starting as the sub. He came on replacing the injured

James Frawley James Joseph Frawley (September 29, 1936 – January 22, 2019) was an American director and actor. He was a member of the Actors Studio since around 1961. He was best known for directing ''The Muppet Movie'' (1979) and ''The Monkees'' television ...

in the first quarter and later kicked a goal. He went on to play three games for the year. In the absence of the injured

Jarryd Roughead Jarryd Roughead (born 23 January 1987) is an Australian rules football coach and former player. He is currently an assistant coach with the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played for the Hawthorn Football C ...

, Sicily was named in Hawthorn's team for the opening round of the

2016 AFL season The 2016 AFL season was the 120th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured e ...

, kicking 4 goals against in round 2 and kicking the match winning goal in round 3 against the . He was named as the round 13 nominee for the Rising Star after kicking a career high five goals and recording 13 disposals and 5 marks. 2016 was regarded as Sicily's breakout season. During the 2017 season, Sicily, who had previously been a forward, was shifted to the backline, after being dropped from the team while playing as a forward. He impressed in that position, but nonetheless at the end of the season was still the subject of some uncertainty around his position in the team. On August 22, 2017, Sicily signed a three-year contract extension keeping him at the club until 2020. Sicily was suspended for one match in the early stages of the 2018 season for kneeing

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

captain

Joel Selwood Joel Anthony Selwood (born 26 May 1988) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was a quadruple premiership player, a six-time All-Australian, and a three-ti ...

. Notwithstanding this, Sicily was widely tipped to be on track for a nomination to the

All-Australian team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

of that year before breaking bones in his wrist in Round 17, only returning during the finals series. Despite this injury, Sicily had a season widely perceived as excellent, and was considered to have potential to become one of the league's best defenders. Sicily had another good season in 2019, being selected in the extended All-Australian squad for that year, the only Hawthorn player to do so. He was considered especially important to Hawthorn's defence. At the end of the season, he re-signed with the club till at least the year 2022. On 16 May 2022, Sicily announced that he had agreed to a 5-year contract extension with Hawthorn, tying him to the club until at least the end of 2027.

On-field temperament

Sicily is widely regarded and known for having a short temper, something he himself has acknowledged.

Statistics

''Updated to the end of the 2022 season.'' , - ,

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2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

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2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

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2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

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2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

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2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

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2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

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2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

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Honours and achievements

Team * Minor premiership ():

Individual *

Peter Crimmins Medal The Peter Crimmins Medal is an Australian rules football award given to the player(s) from the Hawthorn Football Club deemed best and fairest for the season. Peter Crimmins was a rover for Hawthorn, playing from 1966 to 1975 It was also de ...

: 2022 *

22 Under 22 team The 22 Under 22 team (stylised as 22under22) is an honorary representative Australian rules football team created by the AFL Players' Association that seeks to recognise the best young talent in the Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Wom ...

: 2017 * most promising player: 2016 *

AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Buc ...

nominee:

Victoria Australian rules football team The Victoria Australian rules football team, known colloquially as the Big V, is the state representative side of Victoria, Australia, in the sport of Australian rules football. The Big V has a proud history, dominating the first 100 years of ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sicily, James Hawthorn Football Club players Box Hill Football Club players Western Jets players 1995 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Australian people of Italian descent