Hawthorn’s already shaky finals bid has taken a blow with news James Sicily will miss at least six weeks with a wrist injury.
The broken scaphoid bone was sustained in the Hawks’ loss to Brisbane in Tasmania last weekend.
The length of the layoff will keep Sicily out through the remaining home and away rounds of 2018, and possibly into finals should his side be able to get there without his assistance.
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"It's obviously really unfortunate for James and the club,” Hawthorn’s general manager of football, Graham Wright said on the club's website.
“James has been in great form of late, and he’ll be really difficult to replace.
"But, this presents an opportunity to the guys who have been in good touch at Box Hill.
“Someone will step up to fill the void, and we’ll continue on in our pursuit of finals footy.”
Sicily is probably only behind Tom Mitchell as the Hawks’ best player in 2018, as he enjoys a career-best season.
After 14 appearances this year he is averaging 24 disposals and over seven marks a game.
However, he has also built a reputation for controversy, including suspensions for kneeing Geelong captain Joel Selwood in round one and for stomping on North Melbourne player Shaun Atley’s ankle in round five.
James Sicily stomps on Shaun Atley #seriousmisconduct #tribunal pic.twitter.com/fp0BiWp3g4
— giantroo (@giantroo) April 23, 2018
Joel Selwood has his say on the incident with James Sicily.#TalkingFooty #7AFL pic.twitter.com/rvefOhjNaS
— 7AFL (@7AFL) April 2, 2018