Hawthorn captain James Sicily has hit back at tanking allegations surrounding the Hawks in 2023.
After going 0-2 in the season’s opening fortnight with an average losing margin of 70 points, some – including club great Jordan Lewis on Fox Footy – accused the Hawks of undertaking a “form of tanking”.
Couple that start with the heavy list cull in the off-season that saw the likes of Tom Mitchell, Jaeger O’Meara and Jack Gunston depart the club - it appeared to some that the Hawks were happy to lose to improve their draft hand.
Those allegations began to dissipate though in Round 3 as the Hawks picked up their first win of the season against North Melbourne in Launceston and Sicily was asked his thoughts on those claims in the wake of the victory.
“It’s pretty amusing,” Sicily replied on SEN Sportsday.
“There are that many journos at the moment, probably too many, to be honest, all trying to get the clicks and the headlines that they want to get out there to stay competitive I suppose.
“But no, we’re fully invested and understand the direction we’re going.
“Albeit it wasn’t the start we wanted obviously, our confidence towards the plan and the way we want to play hasn’t changed.”
Despite that poor opening fortnight, Sicily says he and his teammates never let those results weigh on them as they looked to pick up little wins each week.
“It (the group’s attitude) was actually fine,” Sicily said.
“It was pretty funny, after Round 1 and a pretty poor performance we went and did recovery as a group at GESAC and went a down waterslide.
“Something as little as that can reset the group to have a bit of fun and enjoyment – we were flying down that thing.
“The group is that young that they move on pretty quickly and they’re excited to play footy every week.
“So, we just take the little wins out of every game whether we win or lose.
“We’re always thinking forward and not getting caught up in what’s happening and what’s being spoken around us.”
Hawthorn will hope to pick up their second win of the season when they face Geelong in their traditional Easter Monday clash at the MCG on April 10.