Will Day hunting redemption after injury-affected season, missing Hawthorn’s finals

Last year was Will Day’s toughest footy experience, sitting on the bench helpless as his Hawks toiled through finals. Now, after a helping hand from a surprising source, he’s ready for redemption.

Will Day’s toughest moment as an impatient onlooker wasn’t watching his mates stampeding all over the Western Bulldogs in Hawthorn’s first finals win since the 2015 flag.

As it turned out, it was the feeling of futility only a week later.

As Hawthorn kicked three of the last four goals in its semi-final against Port Adelaide last year to draw within three points late, Day was perched in the back row of the coaches box.

From where he could do absolutely nothing to help his teammates as the loss morphed into a full-blown Hinkley v Ginnivan Adelaide Oval controversy.

His comeback from that complicated collarbone injury was stalled by surgery on a navicular stress reaction in March and yet Day is finally back on the road to redemption.

READ MORE: ‘PUMPING’: WHY CROWS AND HAWKS CLASH COULD BE THE YEAR’S BEST

Will Day hurt his collarbone late last season. Picture: Josh Chadwick/AFL Photos/via Getty Images.

On Friday night he will again travel to Adelaide Oval but this time closing in on his first final in a whirlwind six-year career.

He returned against Carlton last week after a recovery timed to precision, with 24-year-old Day adamant he won’t be missing the party this time around.

“Obviously missing out last year (in September) and the previous years I have been at the club, we haven’t had any success at all so it’s been the whole motivation for me going through rehab,” he said.

“Last year was a lot of mixed emotions. It was really tough. I was really happy for my best mates (to beat the Dogs) but to not be part of it stung. So it just gives me a bit more hunger for this year.

“(The toughest moment) would be the following week. I was sitting in the coaches box when we lost to Port and to be up there and not be able to help really hurt.

“So just that feeling of helplessness was not great. So it’s why I wanted to be on the bench this year for the injury to be more involved and that was really good for me.”

A navicular stress reaction is the kind of injury which sends shivers down the spine.

James Hird only just recovered from a trio of fractures to save his career from navicular issues, while All Australian Matt Egan’s career was curtailed when he rushed back from his own navicular concern.

Day’s 2025 year ground to a halt when some tenderness in his foot following round 3 turned into the shock diagnosis of the navicular injury.

Day’s season was interrupted by foot problems. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images.

He says the elite work of the club’s medical, strength and fitness and medical team allowed him to tweak his body shape and return against Carlton feeling like he had barely missed a beat.

“I have actually for the first time in my career trimmed down a bit, getting that power to weight ratio back to a nice point and it takes the weight off the foot and so I can be really explosive. I just lost a couple of kilograms but got to a point where we can maximise power if I drop a few. We are in a good spot now.

“James Hird reached out with words of advice. Jesse Hogan as well. They sent me massive paragraphs about what worked for them.

“That gave me a lot of confidence knowing they are two pretty good players who got back to their best afterwards. We had a good team working really diligently with everything we did and I feel great now.”

This week Hird downplayed his role in the comeback, adamant he had only wished him luck and told him he could be a sounding board whenever he needed advice.

He says his own capacity to drop weight helped him out after three navicular fractures across as many seasons before returning to win the 2000 premiership.

“It’s an insidious injury. It creeps up on you,” Hird said.

“Once you are sore, it’s too late. You don’t get any warning signs. That was the really challenging thing, I didn’t know when it was going to come back but fortunately we got to the bottom of it. When I did my first one I put on weight and muscle but by the third one I had leaned down three or four kilograms to put less force through it. To see what those guys are doing now off legs. For him to come back and play like that was amazing.”

James Hird battled injury during his career.

Hird’s gift was to be a centre square star who was a devilishly hard match-up when he pushed forward.

He can see that in Day’s future after his three-goal cameo against Sydney before that mid-forward role was curtailed by injury.

“He must be very hard to play against with the versatility he has. In the middle of the ground he’s got great ball winning ability and then going forward he’s a tough match-up so he’s a really promising player and I am looking forward to seeing him evolve.”

Day had 15 possessions in 82 minutes of game time against Carlton but enough explosive moments to realise his best football is very close.

“It was a bit of relief to get through unscathed. You can never really prepare for the first game so to get through that just gives me a lot of confidence for the next batch of games.

“We have just had a really good block, our medical team were really strategic with how we went with this one, I had a lot of confidence coming into the game to know there were no hesitations and I came in really fit.”

Now comes the nervous part – winning enough games to qualify for that elusive first final.

With Finn Maginness (kidney) the only Hawk out for the year and Josh Weddle hopeful of a finals return, Sam Mitchell’s side has the chance to hit September at full speed if it can upset a growing force like Adelaide on Friday night.

“To be in the position we are now, we have just got to keep winning and we will get there,” he said of ticking off that finals goal.

“We are really optimistic. The fact we have got pretty much our full team on the park apart from Josh Weddle, it gives us a lot of hope and getting that continuity for the next few games, we are really excited about what we can do.”

Originally published as Will Day hunting redemption after injury-affected season, missing Hawthorn’s finals