Even Hawks co-captain James Sicily was surprised by how comprehensively his “in sync” side handled Fremantle at Optus Stadium.
Hawthorn suffocated the Dockers on their home turf in Thursday night’s qualifying final to hand the minor premiers their first loss at the Perth venue in 2026.
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Sam Mitchell’s troops applied intense heat all night to completely control the contest in a 32-point win.
Hawthorn’s defence was particularly exceptional. They held the Dockers to just 40 points — their lowest score this season — as star trio Jye Amiss, Josh Treacy and Patrick Voss were held to a combined two goals after over 150 majors between them in 2026.
Sicily was clearly pumped up about it post-match, with the star Hawks defender shown giving it to Voss while he celebrated after the final siren.
Jame Sicily dominates in finals win | 02:45
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“That felt really in sync and I loved our attitude, the team D (defence),” Sicily told Fox Footypost-match.
“We’ve put a focus on it the last couple of weeks, to commit better, and I thought it was an amazing effort.
“It makes the backline’s job so much easier when we’ve got our mids helping out and our forwards coming up.
“What makes Freo so good, they’re well structured and well drilled and you know what you’re going to get, but it’s still pretty hard to beat.
“I thought our discipline around long down the line contests and if we were to lose a contested mark, it’s not really a big deal. We didn’t want to over-resource long down the line, just back the big boys in and get the ground level done well.
“Just the way we were in sync tonight is going to give us so much confidence.”
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Sicily was among his side’s best in a dominant night in defence to lead Hawthorn’s back six. He racked up 26 disposals and 10 marks with a game-high 12 intercepts to constantly thwart Freo’s attacking entries.
The stunning upset booked the Hawks into a home preliminary final, while Fremantle will try and avoid a straight-sets September exit when it hosts either Geelong or Carlton back in Perth next week.
Even Sicily didn’t anticipate Hawthorn clamping Freo as effectively as it did, with the visitors wary of the Dockers’ ability to rapidly thrust themselves back into games.
But in the end, Freo barely fired a shot.
“I didn’t expect us to keep them to five goals, to be honest. I thought it was going to be a close one,” Sicily said.
“We were all on edge around them being so dominant for 10 to 15-minute patches, like they’ve been all year.
“But I thought our maturity to handle momentum and when they tried to get going with their handball game to energise the ball, I thought we were just all over it tonight.”
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Sicily said the “tough” Hawks’ strong start was crucial in setting the tone early. He said they took great confidence out of their 62-point win over West Coast at Optus Stadium a fortnight ago.
“You can tell yourself any story, both around how to get motivation and release the pressure valve,” Sicily added.
“We wanted to commit to being tough and commit to taking the game on.
“Fortunately, we were able to start the game really well, so we didn’t really need to take as much risk throughout the game, we were able to control it a bit more.
“A lot of confidence around the prep we had a couple of weeks ago with West Coast.
“It’s a pretty sick ground, it suits us as well as it suits Freo. I know, hostile crowd, 60,000 against us. But it’s an amazing venue to play at.”