Hawthorn’s James Sicily says his side will need to produce another complete team effort if they are to make it back-to-back wins on Saturday and continue their imposing record in Launceston.
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The Hawks host St Kilda at University of Tasmania Stadium having broken their season duck against West Coast on Sunday, knowing that continuing on in that fashion will deliver the 20th win in succession in the city.
“We love coming down to Tassie and we think we can execute our game plan to a tee there because we know the ground so well,’’ Sicily told Fairfax Media on Monday.
“We kept it simple against the Eagles and really shared the ball and got everyone involved.
“We just did the basic things well and we’ll be looking to do that again this week.
“St Kilda play a pretty exciting brand of footy, so we will need to be at our best.
“But when we have 22 blokes contributing, it is very hard to lose a game of footy and we will just look to play with a bit of spark and excitement as well.”
The Hawks defeated the Eagles by 50 points on Sunday to keep the critics at bay.
They did it with 12 of their 22 collecting 20 or more touches and their 19 majors being spread around 11 individuals.
Sicily, who has played both in forward and back this year in his three outings, was one of those to put in a strong performance, finishing with 2.1 and seven score involvements from 17 touches and five marks.
“I started off slow, but I still have that confidence I can really contribute at this level,’’ the 186 centimetre and 83 kilogram Sicily said.
“I’m still confident I can play in the back-line, even though I played forward this week, and I believe I will be able to chop and change and that will really help the side.”
Hawthorn have won 26 of their past 27 in Launceston, which includes the last 19 in succession.
But there was only three points separating the two sides when they clashed in the state last season.
Saturday’s game starts at 1.45pm.
- AFL: Pages 30-31, 35