James Sicily

James Sicily (born 6 January 1995) is a professional Australian rules footballer and the current co-captain of the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), alongside Jai Newcombe.

Early career Sicily's junior career was spent playing for the Keilor Football Club.

AFL career Sicily was drafted by the Hawthorn Football Club 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 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, Sicily was named in Hawthorn's team for the opening round of the 2016 AFL season, 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. 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 captain Joel Selwood. Notwithstanding this, Sicily was widely tipped to be on track for a nomination to the All-Australian team 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,

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.

Sicily missed the 2021 season as he was recovering from an ACL injury sustained during the 2020 season.

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.

In February 2023, Sicily was appointed the 38th captain of Hawthorn, with the 28-year-old succeeding the retired Ben McEvoy who served in the role for two seasons.

In Round 11 2023, Sicily had a career high 43 disposals against St Kilda in the Hawks' 10-point win.

In January 2026, James Sicily was appointed a co-captain with Jai Newcombe.

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 round 22, 2026.

199 !! 77 !! 50 !! 2816 !! 1235 !! 4051 !! 1419 !! 298 !! 0.4 !! 0.3 !! 14.2 !! 6.2 !! 20.4 !! 7.1 !! 1.5 !! 52