By Andrew Wu
In today’s AFL Briefing, your daily wrap of footy news:
- Hawks lose gun midfielder Will Day to foot stress fracture.
- Paul Marsh declares time at AFLPA, starts second innings with cricket union.
Hawthorn have been rocked by a massive injury blow to star midfielder Will Day, who is facing up to four months on the sidelines after suffering a stress fracture in his foot.
Day pulled up with foot soreness from training at the weekend and was sent for precautionary scans which revealed a significant crack in the navicular bone. He will undergo surgery in the coming days.
Hawthorn’s Will Day.Credit: Getty Images
In a cruel twist for the Hawks, the injury came during the bye – a rare time in the season for players to refresh. The injury is to the same foot that he sustained a stress fracture in during pre-season last year.
Day’s injury has considerable implications to the flag favourite’s quest for a top-four berth.
His absence was keenly felt at the start of last year when he missed the first six games of the season. The Hawks lost the first five of those, their only win without Day coming in round six against North Melbourne. However, they are in better shape now than they were 12 months ago.
Day also missed the finals series after injuring a collarbone in the penultimate round of the home and away season.
The Hawks bowed out in the second week of the finals with a heartbreaking three-point loss to Port Adelaide; their opponent this Sunday.
Midfielder James Worpel is expected to take Day’s spot in the team this week, but there are few players in the league with Day’s mix of speed, toughness and skill.
Day, a first-round selection in the 2019 draft who has had a chequered run with injury, appeared set for a big season after polling coaches votes in two of the Hawks’ four games this season, but now won’t be seen on the field until July at the earliest.
The injury to Will Day (right) will create an opening in the Hawks midfield, and James Worpel (left) is the most obvious player to fill the void.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
“In this instance, surgery is required to fix the fracture,” Hawks head doctor Liam West said.
“Additionally, surgery will also reduce the risk of future issues for Will during his career.”
Players were told of the news on Tuesday morning.
“Whilst this is a bitter blow for Will, the playing group has already rallied around him to support him during this initial phase,” Hawks football boss Rob McCartney said.
“Will is one of the most determined and resilient young individuals I know, and these attributes will come to the fore as he starts his rehab journey.
“With the knowledge and expertise in our medical team, I am confident Will can return to the park before the end of the season.”
Meanwhile, St Kilda big man Max King has suffered a setback in his recovery from pre-season knee surgery, and it’s unclear when the 24-year-old is expected to return.
The Saints forward, who has been restricted to 23 games since the start of 2023, underwent an arthroscope on his knee at the end of February to resolve the issue and was initially aiming to be ready by round one or two. But the Saints on Tuesday listed his status as TBC.
St Kilda have already ruled out the 83-gamer from Sunday’s match against GWS.
“King will seek additional assessment this week,” the Saints said on their website.
Increased media attention on players a concern for departing AFLPA boss
Andrew Wu
Outgoing AFL Players Association boss Paul Marsh has called out the football media for its stinging critique of footballers at a time when players have reported mental health as their biggest issue in the game.
Paul Marsh (left) has resigned from the AFL Players Association to return to cricket.Credit: Getty Images
Marsh, who on Tuesday announced his resignation to return to his old job as the chief of Australian cricket’s players union, said the race to make the “boldest and biggest statement” had come at the cost of considered opinion and analysis.
Marsh also defended Richmond defender Noah Balta’s right to return to the field before his sentencing for assault on April 22, and said the public response to out-of-contract West Coast captain Oscar Allen meeting Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell had been “completely blown out of proportion”.
Marsh’s concerns with how the game is reported and critiqued comes amid a proliferation of TV shows with the AFL’s new broadcast rights deal, which has resulted in his constituency, the players, being better paid than ever but also subjected to heightened scrutiny over their performance.
“You’d like to see a bit more rationality in some of the media,” Marsh said. “I guess everyone’s competing now [to see] who can make the boldest and biggest statement. There’s no doubt that’s got more and more with the new rights deal. I’m not sure we can pull that back.
“I’d love to see a little bit more measured commentary coming out of the media at times, we also understand that’s where the money comes from. There’s a reality here that I think the players are just trying to work out how they’re going to deal with it.
“Part of that might be more access too, having more things to talk about rather than just the ongoing scrutiny week to week.”
Marsh said mental health had consistently emerged as the No.1 issue in the game from players in annual player surveys run by the AFLPA. He said the industry had “come a long way” in his 10 years in football, but issues would only become more challenging.
Carlton pair Harry McKay and Elijah Hollands, and Western Bulldogs star Jamarra Ugle-Hagan have all taken time out of the game this year due to personal reasons.
“We do a lot of work in trying to build resilience with the players,” Marsh said. “That doesn’t mean that it’s easy for everyone.
“We’ve got a lot of support we put around them through us, the clubs, through the AFL but not everyone is built in a way that they can deal with the scrutiny that comes with it.
“It’s 365 days a year now; the scrutiny that comes with it. I foresee this is going to be a bigger challenge going forward. It’s not going to get easier for the players on this front.”
Paul Marsh.Credit: Getty Images
Marsh said Balta, having served his suspension, “had a right to play” while he awaited sentencing for assault.
AFL chief Andrew Dillon has said he is “comfortable” with Balta playing. Balta is eligible to return for the Tigers this weekend against Fremantle.
“He’s got a criminal process that he’s going through, and there’ll be a determination made at the end of that,” Marsh said. “There has been a football process and that’s the result of it.”
Marsh said players he had spoken to about Allen’s discussions with Mitchell could not understand why it was such a big issue.
“It doesn’t just get to the end of a season and players then move clubs,” Marsh said. “These conversations have been going on all the time. I’d like to think we’re a mature enough industry that we’re not allowing these types of issues to damage culture.”
Marsh will finish his 11-year tenure with the AFLPA in May to take over as the chief executive of the Australian Cricketers Association, a role he held from 2005-14.
Marsh said the opportunity to return to cricket was too good to refuse, and by leaving now his successor would have time to prepare for the next collective bargaining agreement with the AFL.
One of Marsh’s legacies in football is the introduction of the revenue-share model in 2017 that has been part of cricket’s pay structure since 1997.
He returns to cricket with the international game facing uncertainty amid the continued expansion of domestic Twenty20 leagues around the world.
Marsh recently chaired a World Cricketers’ Association subcommittee that completed a six-month review of cricket’s global structure.
“If we don’t get the scheduling sorted out in international cricket, actually work out how international cricket will co-exist with the domestic T20 competitions, then international cricket is in trouble,” Marsh said.
“We are trying to get to windows and a more structured format around how international cricket works. I think that’s one of the big priorities coming in – to work with all the other countries to find the right solution there.”
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