HAWTHORN star Will Day is on track to return from a long-term foot injury in round 20, just in time to help the push for the club’s first top-four finish since 2018.
The 24-year-old played the first four games of 2025, but hasn’t played since round three after a stress fracture was discovered in his foot.
Day underwent surgery in April to fix the fracture in the navicular bone of his right foot, following a recurrence of the same injury that wiped out the first few months of his 2024 season.
The South Australian completed most of Thursday’s main session at Waverley Park and can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Will Day after Hawthorn’s match against West Coast in R7, 2025. Picture: AFL Photos
Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell said the game against Carlton on July 24 is now a realistic target for the 2023 Peter Crimmins Medallist.
“Round 20 has been the vague target for a period of time now and nothing has changed. He will do some extra training today and has done a couple of drills over the last week or so,” Mitchell said on Thursday.
“You get that feeling of he looks ready, can he go soon?
“But he is going through his process and our medical team. I’ve got enormous confidence in them. We can field a full 18 v 18 with a bench at the moment, so our medical team are doing a pretty good job.
“I have full faith in them getting him back, and ready to perform, not just ready to play. I think that’s really important that when he gets back he is ready to perform, too.”
Hawthorn is still weighing up making changes to its forward mix for this weekend’s trip to Western Australia to face Fremantle at Optus Stadium.
Mitch Lewis (three goals, eight marks in the VFL) impressed in his second game back from a knee reconstruction on Sunday and is on the cusp of an AFL return.
Calsher Dear (21 disposals, three goals) also starred for Box Hill against Sandringham, continuing a big few weeks for the father-son recruit, who missed the first four months of the year due to a stress fracture in his back.
