Hawthorn’s premiership hopes have been rocked with star midfielder Will Day to miss the rest of the season.
Day, 24, was left with a bone stress injury in his right foot after he was stomped on in Friday night’s 14-point loss to the Adelaide Crows.
He was sent for precautionary scans in Melbourne on Saturday after the team arrived home. The scans revealed bone stress in his navicular, the same injury to the same foot that had him requiring surgery and sidelined for four months before he returned to senior football last weekend.
Hawthorn’s Will Day is tackled by Sam Berry during their game at Adelaide Oval.Credit: AFL Photos
But the Hawks are uncertain at this stage whether Day will require surgery to repair this injury. Hawthorn football boss Rob McCartney said it was disappointing news for Day, and defended how the club had managed his recovery from his earlier injury.
“We know Will has put in a mountain of work to get back to playing, and indeed performing, at the elite level, and we are really disappointed for him,” McCartney said.
“The club’s medical and high performance team have taken extra precautions with Will throughout his rehabilitation this year. This included very closely managing his workload and consulting external specialists both in Victoria and interstate to help guide his return to play timeline.
“Will is an outstanding person who has showcased an incredible amount of resilience, and we know he will engage his rehab with the same attitude.
“As a club, we will obviously support Will throughout every stage of his rehabilitation and wrap our arms around him as he navigates this tough period.”
A Hawks spokesman later said Day had regular scans throughout his rehabilitation, and they showed no obvious issues heading into the Crows game.
Day had left the field on Friday with what appeared to be cramp late in the final term. Play was controversially stopped to allow him to hobble off before he began a light jog.
However, he returned to Melbourne on Saturday with his right foot in a moon boot.
Day is arguably the Hawks’ most important player. His absence will have not only a major impact on whether the Hawks make the finals, but whether they can challenge for the flag.
They need to win at least two, and possibly all, of their final three games to make the finals, beginning against Collingwood on Thursday night.
Day had only returned to action last weekend, having been sidelined since round three, when he required surgery.
Will Day hobbles off Adelaide Oval.Credit: AFL Photos
The decision to stop play for Day to leave the field at a stoppage with just over three minutes remaining in the game on Friday night added to confusion around the injured player send-off rule.
The AFL this season introduced new rules to allow umpires to stop play so players impacted by head knocks could leave the field to help with concussion management, while umpires are also told to stop play if a player is seriously injured near where the ball is. Day was more than 50 metres away.
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks was incensed over the pause in the game when his team was leading by 16 points, while Fox Footy and Seven’s AFL experts also questioned the decision to stop play.
“He was nowhere near that ball-up. He was 50 metres away with cramp. Now that’s just bad luck if you get cramp,” Matthew Richardson told Seven.
Fellow Seven commentator Kane Cornes and Fox Footy’s Garry Lyon said cramping could be used as a loophole for clubs to “exploit”.
“Knock that on the head straight away. Let’s treat head knocks with the seriousness they need. But if it’s a tap on the ankle or a sore knee, bounce it and away you go,” Lyon said.
“[The Day incident] is 40-55m off the play. This doesn’t stop the game.”
Hawks great Jason Dunstall told Fox Footy “you can’t stop the game for cramp” and “there’s something wrong with that rule.”
Jack Ginnivan, meanwhile, has joined the AFL’s middle finger fine club after receiving a $1500 fine ($1000 early plea) for an obscene gesture after he flipped his middle finger at some fans.
He didn’t give the double bird like Bailey Smith did earlier in 2025, but he flipped them off with feeling nonetheless.
Teammate Jai Newcombe was also fined $1500 ($1000 early plea) for contact with an umpire.
Both acts were first offences.
