Scott Gullan: Will Day has all the trademarks of a future Brownlow medallist

Will Day a Brownlow Medallist-in-waiting? He ticks all the boxes, writes SCOTT GULLAN. But the thoughts of Hawks fans might have drifted off somewhere else on Friday night.

At halftime on Friday night every Hawthorn fan was letting their mind wander back six months to that heartbreaking semi-final loss to Port Adelaide.

In an epic encounter at Adelaide Oval, the Hawks came up just three-points short.

The question Hawks fans were asking: Was Will Day worth three points?

On the evidence of the first half of the opening game of the 2025 season the answer is an overwhelming yes.

Will Day was dynamite in the first half on Friday night. Picture: Darrian Traynor/AFL Photos

So if Day plays – he missed with a collarbone injury – Hawthorn wins and then takes on Sydney at the SCG in the preliminary final and given what they did at that ground last night there’s a fair chance they would have had a pretty good crack to make the Grand Final and then …

Enough of that dreaming and what if’s.

But what Day did to the Swans in 60 minutes of football was stunning.

An incredible 19 possessions which included 11 kicks, eight handballs, five clearances, four tackles, three marks and most importantly three goals — which was the same number he kicked in 16 games last year.

There is a lot of Marcus Bontempelli about Day.

And for so many years people have watched the Bulldogs captain and thought of the Brownlow Medal.

Day off the deck ⚽️#AFLSwansHawkspic.twitter.com/zAu6CZUq86

— AFL (@AFL) March 7, 2025

Unfortunately things haven’t all gone his way on Brownlow night but if you like a punt on the AFL’s best and fairest then lock away a bet on Day every year for the next handful.

He ticks all the boxes. Highly skilled, in the face of the umpires, tough, fair, a ball magnet and a captain-in-waiting.

Life for Day was a lot different in the third quarter when new Swans coach Dean Cox clearly said enough was enough.

He sent James Jordon to his side and in the first 15 minutes the Hawks star only had one touch although his second touch was a ripper, a beautiful pass to Conor Nash to set up their second goal of the quarter and briefly take the air out of a spirited Swans comeback.

Will Day celebrates one of his three first-half goals.

After that Day was brought back to the pack in what became an enthralling contest and scrap as the rain came and Sydney got their game going.

But you’d hope the men in yellow would have remembered who set up the win and give his Brownlow push a nice little kickstart.

Day might get some competition from a couple of teammates including his captain James Sicily who is going to be putting himself in contention a lot this year in his role as the game’s ultimate swingman.

The reason Sam Mitchell went and recruited Tom Barass and Josh Battle was there for everyone to see in the final quarter.

In the first half Sicily was brilliant in his normal role sweeping across halfback but then when Mitchell needed his forward line to spark, the skipper was sent there simply because the cover was now there with the two new recruits.

It will be on repeat a lot this season and opposition teams are going to have a lot of sleepless nights trying to come up with plans to counter that move and also find a way to deny Day more Brownlow votes.

Originally published as Scott Gullan: Will Day has all the trademarks of a future Brownlow medallist