Hawthorn defender James Sicily believes he’s improving when it comes to being targeted by opposition players.
Sicily has been known as someone who can be baited into giving free kicks away and this hurt the team against the Bulldogs in Round 2.
The 24-year-old gave away a free kick late in the game which resulted in an immediate shot for goal for Josh Schache, contributing to the Dogs’ run of goals.
“I’ve been in the papers for some wrong reasons before so it wasn’t nothing really,” Sicily told SEN’s The Curtain Raiser.
“I feel like I’ve built a bit of resilience to the media and the outside words. We were pretty quick to move on from it.
“It was a sour taste in the mouth on Monday, but a week’s a long time in footy and we bounced back pretty well.
“I’m just very competitive and I love winning and sometimes it gets the better of me. I think for the better part of the last two years I’ve been better at channelling my emotions.”
Sicily had a cheeky dig at the umpires during Friday night’s clash between Sydney and Melbourne, pointing out the niggling behind the ball, which he was penalised harshly for against the Bulldogs.
A lot of missed free kicks so far #AFLSwansDees
— James Sicily (@J_Sicily) April 11, 2019
Sicily explained the tweet, saying “he thought it was funny”.
