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Mitchell defends Sicily’s form and defends Barrass’ forward shift
Luke Mathews • May 2nd, 2025 12:40 pm
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has come to the defence of captain James Sicily after the defender has come under fire for his ball use in recent weeks.
The superstar has been known for his precise kicking in recent years, however there was a drop off in his effectiveness against Geelong and West Coast.
The 2022 Peter Crimmins medallist has gone at 63 and 70% in the last two weeks which is below his average for the entire 2023 and 2024 season.
Despite the decline, Mitchell hopes that nothing changes moving forward, reaffirming that the rest of his game is still in good shape.
“Sic is really interesting because he’s a great example of why you don’t necessarily change things,” Mitchell said.
“Has his talent for kicking changed in the last fortnight? No it hasn’t. Has he performed his kicking skill close to the top range of his talents in the last fortnight? No.
“The talent is still there, and the confidence is still there.
“He’s still doing the kicks that we think are appropriate at the time he just hasn’t hit them at the moment.
“The last thing I’m going to do is say you’ve missed a couple so put the kicking away because it’s one of his great weapons.
“The rest of his game has been quite good, it’s just not what we’re used to seeing from him is this elite kicking game and his marking game, so those two things aren’t at the top.”
After the win against the Eagles on Sunday evening, Mitchell came under fire from West Coast coach Andrew McQualter over his use of defender Tom Barass.
Whilst some believed throwing the defender forward late in the game against his former club was disrespectful, the Hawks coach reiterated it was all about trying to find more development in their game.
“We’re looking for ways to score and different avenues forward,” Mitchell remarked.
“Josh Battle is another one who we’d like to explore in couple of positions we’ve done it with Josh Weddle at different stages, obviously Hardwick gives us a lot of flexibility.
“Calsher Dear has come back through the VFL last week on limited minutes, Mitch Lewis is still working through his rehab, so another marking option in the front half is important for us.
“When we get the opportunity, we like to try and change a position to see if we can get a bit of development into our game.”
The fourth-placed Hawks will be back in action on Sunday when they take on Richmond in their 100-year anniversary game at the MCG.
