The Sicily Tax
Is it real, or just a brown and gold illusion?
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As Hawthorn fans licked their collective wounds post Saturday afternoon’s loss to the Bombers, news broke of a one-game suspension being handed out to captain James Sicily for kicking Essendon’s Andrew McGrath.
It was a punch in the gut (or kick to the leg) for those who were scrambling to identify the positives out of the match, as the club takes stock and heads into the Hawks Round 2 clash against the Demons.
The official report states Sicily’s ‘kick’ was graded by the Match Report Officer (MRO) as intentional conduct, medium impact and body contact.
Medium impact is where this situation gets contentious, and where Hawthorn fans begin to question if a Sicily Tax really does exist.
Let’s be clear, there is more than enough contact made by Sicily on McGrath. The vast majority of that contact is made when McGrath runs at Sicily and the Hawthorn captain responds by loading up, getting low, and bumping McGrath. Only when McGrath is already on his way to the turf, does Sicily’s leg swing out.
How much contact was made between Sicily’s leg and McGrath’s body is hard to determine from the footage, which should speak volumes as to the overly harsh classification given by the MRO.
If the Sicily Tax is real, this may be another in a growing list of examples of how Hawthorn’s skipper is penalised harsher than most other players (sorry Toby Greene).
Taxation History
In 2023, Sicily was suspended by the tribunal and had his appeal thrown out after the match review officer graded the round 13 incident as careless conduct, severe impact and high contact. Sicily was punished for a ‘sling’ tackle on Brisbane’s Hugh McCluggage that left the Brisbane midfielder concussed. The issue? Sicily’s tackle was deemed perfectly executed by the on-field adjudicators, and Sicily was the recipient of a holding the ball free kick for his trouble.
In 2022, Sicily was fined $1000 for ‘misconduct’ when he removed Aaron Naughton’s headband during a headed scuffle. The fine was then raised to $1500 as Hawthorn failed to overturn the report on appeal.
Former Hawthorn champion, Leigh Matthews was among those who were shocked with the decision, telling SEN’s Sportsday he could not believe the Hawks defender was fined.
“A travesty of justice when Sicily gets a $1000 fine for ripping Naughton’s headband off … Seriously. How can that be justified?
Maybe it can be justified because the Sicily Tax is real?
So what now?
Bringing things back to the latest overly penalised Sicily incident, the door has remained open for an appeal, mainly due to the player involved — not James Sicily, but Andrew McGrath.
McGrath went straight to the ‘players code’ handbook when speaking to SEN Breakfast on Monday. His recollection will give Hawthorn hope for a successful challenge of the current suspension.
“It was pretty innocuous. I think a few of us got into him (Sicily) a little bit after (Matt) Guelfi kicked the first goal on him, it was just one of those heat of the moment things.
“I didn’t even really realise that he put his foot into the back of me, which sort of suggests how severe the kick was. Not very at all.
“After every incident our club doctor calls us to see if there are any medical ramifications or any soreness, my report to him was that there’s nothing. I’ve got no bruise, no nothing.”
The Hawthorn challenge should be to the MRO’s grading. Based on McGrath’s evidence, the medium impact grading can only be seen as low impact, which would mean Sicily would be free to take his place against Melbourne in Round 2.
Whether that actually happens is another thing.
So is the tax real?
Most people stop believing in made up things such as Santa, the Easter Bunny, Essendon Premierships, and the Sicily Tax when they reach a certain age. But the fact is James Sicily has been charged by the MRO on three separate occasions over the past three seasons, for incidents that have been eyebrow-raising at best.
So, I’m not here to say whether the Sicily Tax is real or fake, but I will say that data is stacking up in its favour. Hopefully the Tribunal leans towards the side of common sense, the charge is downgraded to low impact, and Sicily can lead his team into battle on Saturday afternoon against Melbourne, putting this incident and the “Sicily Tax” phenomenon to bed.
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There IS A Sic TAX…….. that’s said, be better, be controlled, don’t get sucked in. You are the Captain and whilst you had a rare stinker, we need you on the field not in the coaches box.
There might be a tax but most high profile hot heads have had them. He should use Toby Greene as inspiration and sort himself out. Carrying on like it was 1984 was so immature and coming off the Age piece on how he is so mature now etc was embarrassing. And almost cost us another goal but for a rare Essendon miss. He can be a really good player but not having him as a captain.