‘Good news’: Will Day dodges worst case scenario after Hawks thrashing
Hawthorn’s Will Day left the ground in the first quarter of the side’s clash against Richmond with the coaches fearing the worst.
AFL
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Hawthorn’s 63-point thrashing of Richmond has been soured by a horror injury blow to Will Day, but coach Sam Mitchell has revealed the blow may not have been as bad as first thought.
The midfielder was sent to hospital after friendly fire from teammate Jai Newcombe when the pair were hunting a ground ball inside the centre circle in the first quarter of the 19.17 (131) to 10.8 (68) victory, which has put the Hawks’ fate in their own hands.
Watch every game of every round this Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start your free trial today >
Day appeared to be in a lot of pain when helped from the ground by a trainer and the Hawks initially thought his season was over, but Mitchell suggested that the 23-year-old may have a further role to play as they charge towards September action.
“He had an X-ray already. He got taken away and had the X-ray, and no break,” Mitchell said in his post-game press conference.
“So good news but that’s not enough information. He’ll have other tests tomorrow – CT (scan), MRI or whatever the medical team decides. But no break is (good) – originally we thought probably there was something broken – but no break so more information tomorrow.
“He’s obviously in a fair bit of pain and they said clavicle and I said ‘does that mean collarbone?’. They said collarbone.
“I was pretty happy at the end of the game when the ‘doc’ said that he had no break.
“We’ll support him and we’ll see how nasty it is. At this stage with the information I have he could play next week or he might not play again this season. We actually have no idea. We just have to wait another 24 hours.”
In the last quarter, Jack Scrimshaw sent further concerns through the Hawthorn camp as he came to the bench in his 100th game in the brown and gold with a finger injury.
The extent of which is yet to be confirmed and it leaves Hawthorn sweating on the outcome of another set of medical assessments.
“Popped his finger. I’m not sure (how badly),” Mitchell said.
“Sometimes they can be quite nasty and other times they can be completely fine and they come back on. This was a little bit worse than that so we decided we didn’t want to bring him back out.
“Again he’ll have an X-ray and see what’s happening there and get more information in the next day or two.”
Hawthorn sit in seventh position heading into their final round clash with North Melbourne in Launceston.
They have won 13 games since starting the season with five losses and they need one more victory to secure their place in the finals.
Their last four wins against Collingwood, Adelaide, Carlton and Richmond have come by 66 points, 66 points, 74 points and 63 points respectively in a scintillating patch of form.
It has been sparked by improvement from youngsters like Calsher Dear who booted three goals for a second straight week.
Mitchell said he “was a little bit disappointed this week” that the 19-year-old key forward did not receive a Rising Star nomination for his performance against Carlton but hinted that it should come this week by saying “hopefully it’s a big week for him”.
Mitchell also expressed that he has no concerns about his players taking the foot off the pedal against the Kangaroos on Saturday.
“The players know what the reality of the season is. We win now and we’re in,” he said.
“If I have to help with the motivation then we’re probably not deserving of being there.
“I don’t think we’re a group that at this point are willing or have had the lack of mental discipline to look too far ahead. We haven’t had that luxury all year. So this week will be another final for us.”
Originally published as ‘Good news’: Will Day dodges worst case scenario after Hawks thrashing
‘Long way from Birregurra’: Swans’ defensive duo who defied odds
Lewis Melican and Tom McCartin are holding the fort as equals in Sydney’s backline. SCOTT GULLAN tracks their journey from growing up 10 minutes apart to the biggest stage in football.
Tragedy, triumph and the phone call that changed everything
Logan Evans started 2023 as a highly-rated draft prospect. But in the space of two months, his life was turned upside down. The teenager was then hit with another blow in November – before the phone rang.