Will Day targeting August return and finals assault after foot injury

Will Day is targeting the Hawks’ final three games of the 2025 season for his return, and his sights are set on making a big impact in September – something he didn’t get a chance to do last year.

Sidelined Hawthorn midfielder Will Day has revealed he is targeting the club’s final three home and away games in August as potential return dates from his stress fracture in the navicular bone.

The Hawks were smashed at stoppages and clearances in the loss to Brisbane and have sorely missed his exquisite balance between attack and defence since his injury in April.

But he and the club are increasingly confident he can play a meaningful role in the Hawks’ push towards the finals.

The Hawks star will hopefully return before finals. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Day is now making steady progress in his recovery and is looking at mid to late August games against Collingwood, Melbourne and Brisbane Lions in rounds 22 to 24 as part of a realistic return timeline.

“My plan is to definitely get some games in before finals and just build myself up,” Day said in an exclusive interview with this masthead.

“If the boys get us to a stage where they play finals, which I am sure they will, I just want to make sure I am primed and ready to go.

“I’m very confident (of playing again in 2025). We are at a point where we think there is a good balance of being conservative but also not too conservative.”

Day will start running on the AlterG machine this week and could graduate to running outside in the coming weeks, with his next scan due in a fortnight.

He also detailed how the surgery early last month had strengthened the foot, which will hopefully limit the prospects of recurrence in the future.

“We are probably going the best we can be at this moment and we’re hitting some important strength markers, which gives us a lot of confidence that this year is looking very positive,” Day said.

Day made an amazing start to 2025 before going down. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

“We were able to do a few things in the surgery that we reckon were contributing to the foot (issues). It was a bit of a bone spur and we are really confident we have been able to get on top of it now and move forward.

“I’ve been doing a lot of stair walking. It is all about building up the strength in the calves to take a bit of a load off the foot. The plan is to run on the Alter G next week, then hopefully not too long after that I will be back (running) on land and feel like a normal athlete.”

Day felt some tenderness in his foot at a training session following the round 3 clash with Greater Western Sydney, but was shocked when precautionary scans showed a serious concern.

“It wasn’t painful, it was just taking a bit longer (than usual) to warm up, so we thought we would stay ahead of the game and get a scan early,” he said.

“I drove out of the scans and I was 10 minutes down the road when I got a call to come back. It was a massive shock. It was a pretty horrendous feeling.

“I probably could have got a few more games out (if he hadn’t done the scans) but it would have eventually snapped in half – and we would have been right behind the eight ball.”

Day’s season flashed before his eyes as he feared missing a finals series for a second year in a row, with a collarbone injury late last year sidelining him from the elimination final win over the Western Bulldogs and the semi-final loss to Port Adelaide.

“That was one of the hardest parts of my career,” he said of missing the finals in 2024.

“Finals footy is something you always dream about as a kid, especially since when I first got to the club, we were nowhere near finals. We finally had built up to last year’s finals and I wasn’t a part of it. That was really tough.

“But having that carrot (of finals footy) dangling this year has kept me really motivated. This has been the quickest I have been able to turn to a positive mindset after an injury.”

Hawthorn has given Day a role on the bench, communicating with assistant coach David Hale in the coaches’ box, and liaising with the midfielders when they came off the field.

“I am a bad watcher, so it is good to be able to be involved with the coaches,” he said. “If I was just in the crowd, I would be kicking myself. I feel like I can still influence a bit there.”

Originally published as Will Day targeting August return and finals assault after foot injury