HAWTHORN’s James Sicily says hard work has been the key to his on-field success so far in 2016.

The emerging Hawk was at his brilliant best on Friday, kicking five goals straight in a match-winning performance against North Melbourne, which earned him a NAB AFL Rising Star nomination.

Sicily said putting in plenty of hard work during the week was starting to pay off.

“It was good to kick straight this week,” he said.

“I think I’ve had the yips the last month or so. It’s something I’ve worked pretty hard on with David Rath, one of our specialist coaches. It’s a good confidence booster that I can get back to kicking straight.”

Sicily said working with Rath on his goalkicking in particular had been a focus.

“I’ve put in a few hours after training and before training just working on little things with my goalkicking – not just the ball drop, trying to visualise the ball flight, how it’s going to go through, narrowing my focus,” he said.

“We have put a lot of work into it, so it’s good to see that it’s kind of paying off.

The 21-year-old – now in his third year as a Hawk – has kicked 19 goals from his 13 matches this year, after making his AFL debut last season.

He thought his chance had passed him by, after what he described as a below-par personal performance in the Hawks’ season-opener against Geelong.

However, with Alastair Clarkson showing faith, Sicily has gone from strength to strength.

“Coming off after that game, I thought, ‘Geez, I’ve probably wasted an opportunity here’,” he said.

“(Clarko) showed the faith and I was pretty determined to bounce back after a pretty abysmal performance personally.

“That’s just a big confidence booster – that he’s got faith in me.”

Impressive games against West Coast Eagles and Western Bulldogs followed, but Friday night’s performance stands out as his best yet.

However, with just 16 career games to his name, Sicily is determined to keep improving as a player – with Hawks star Jarryd Roughead one of many role models.

“I feel so privileged to land here (at Hawthorn in the draft)… I’ve got pretty much the whole 22 to lean on for advice, because they’re all well experienced and really good players,” Sicily said.

“There’s probably no better place to be (to learn).

“I do a lot of work with Roughy. He’s the forward guy down here and someone that I look to for advice and little tips and tricks and stuff like that.”