Hawks’ hopes grow of big recall for Giants final
Roger Vaughan |
Captain James Sicily has backed Josh Weddle to be ready, should the fellow Hawthorn defender return from an extended injury break for Saturday’s AFL elimination final.
Hopes are growing at the Hawks that the running defender, one of their best players, will be recalled for the clash against GWS.
Weddle has been sidelined since June with a back injury that originally threatened to end his season. He returned to playing on Saturday with VFL affiliates Box Hill and came through the game well.
“He obviously plays an important role for us, the way he goes about it in offence and obviously in defence as well.
“It’s up to ‘Mitch’ (coach Sam Mitchell), but as a fellow defender, we’d love to see him in the team.
“He’s one of the best athletes here. It doesn’t take much to get excited about him – he could have 10 or 12 weeks off and he’d still be the best runner at the club.”
Asked about the boost that Weddle’s return might give the Hawks, Sicily referred instead to their series of big games against other finalists over the last few weeks.
“The boost we get as a team is just being involved in the last six or so games we’ve played,” Sicily said.
“We feel they’ve been quite finals-like … we feel as though we know where we’re at, things we need to get better at, and things we can stock – being really good for us.
“As a team, we probably take more confidence out of those last six or so games, more so than just getting Weds back.
“Obviously he plays an important role and we love him as a bloke, but we’ll see.”
Sicily was speaking at a Hawks’ media call – the first time the skipper has commented at length about missing three games mid-season with a hip injury.
He admitted the hip problem had been a factor in him struggling with confidence, especially in his formidable field kicking.
“Like anything – any professional footballer – when you’re at the height of your confidence, everything slows down, you see more, you process things more,” he said.
“You go into things that feel easy, but they might not necessarily be (easy).
“The opposite happens when you’re down on confidence – it feels like you have dial-up internet in your head. You can’t think, you can’t process things.”
Sicily added that his hip problem was being managed well and was not affecting him.
“The circuit breaker was awesome, in being able to just wrap my head around ‘okay, this is what I’m going to feel like for the rest of the year’ – rather than ‘I hope it gets better’,” he said.
“The medicos have figured it out. Hopefully by next off-season, coming into next season, it’s gone.”
His Giants counterpart Toby Greene will be a huge factor on Saturday. Greene took two inspiring marks at the end of the close round-24 win over St Kilda, to again showcase his match-winning ability.
“It was pretty inspiring stuff, what he did in the St Kilda game,” Sicily said.
“We’re fortunate that we have Blake Hardwick, who does pretty good jobs on small forwards.
“You can just rely on ‘Dimma’, that he’ll give his best. He doesn’t get beaten too many times.”
Hawthorn are 0-8 at Engie Stadium and Sicily said it is high time they broke their drought.
“It would be good to finally break the hoodoo at Engie … surely we’re due. But they’re a great team.”
AAP
