Hawthorn captain James Sicily should be lauded for his heroics on Sunday in a gutsy win over the Western Bulldogs under the roof at Marvel Stadium.

Amid a poor start to the season, Sicily has been called out for his lull in form as the club quickly slumped to one victory in seven games.

However, fortunes were turned as Sam Mitchell's men flipped the script and took down finals fancies the Bulldogs despite their captain suffering a significant shoulder injury.

Sicily - who was seen landing awkwardly after flying for a marking contest - dislocated his right shoulder during the first quarter.

Expecting to be ruled out for the remainder of the match, the Hawks medical team were able to place Sicily's shoulder back into place "seamlessly" before the captain courageously returned to the field.

"Pretty banged up this morning but all worth it waking up on a Monday morning with a win," Sicily said on RSN.

"You go until a little bit of shock. You think, 'I'm probably done for a fair stint here' and it was bizarre.

"It was an uncomfortable feeling but the docs got it in (back) in pretty seamlessly and then still had all my strength and not much pain."

After miraculously playing with a heavily tapped shoulder following a dislocation, Sicily copped another unfortunate blow in the premiership quarter, rolling his ankle which caused a surprise move to the other end of the ground.

Mitchell spoke of the leadership on display from his captain who subsequently kicked the match-winning goal playing as a forward, a position he hasn't played in for quite some time.

"He's been under a lot of pressure, he is still a young man and new in his leadership journey and obviously gets a fair bit of attention from the opposition," Mitchell said post-game.

"When he popped his shoulder he said 'It went in pretty well, I think I'm okay', then he hurt his ankle in the third.

"It was three-quarter time, we'd already made our substitute and I asked him what he was thinking - he said he can keep playing but might not be able to do a couple of things.

"He said 'what about forward'? I can swap with Blake Hardwick. So I got them together and asked them what they thought and they were like okay let's do that. They drove their own.

"For Blake to go into the back half and do what he needed to do, and then for James to go forward and do what he needed to do - their level of trust in each other to play each other's roles I thought was fantastic.

"It would of been really easy for James to not to keep playing... he had a sore shoulder, a sore foot.. everyone would've understood if he didn't keep playing. But his level of commitment to work through that and to lead the way for our other boys was first-class."

Alongside his goal, Sicily finished with 20 disposals, nine marks, and five intercept possessions going at an impressive disposal efficiency of 86 per cent.