Hawthorn star Will Day will play managed minutes in the VFL on Friday and could return to the senior side as soon as next week.<\/p>\n
The luckless Hawk has not played in 2026 after sustaining a shoulder injury during the pre-season.<\/p>\n
That latest setback followed an injury-plagued 2025 campaign (foot) and a season-ending collarbone problem the previous year.<\/p>\n
Day integrated back into main training a fortnight ago and has proven his case for a long-awaited return.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll play this week, he\u2019ll play some limited minutes on Friday night with Box Hill,\u201d Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell said excitedly<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty exciting, pretty exciting for Will and I think for all of us. He\u2019s obviously a very high-profile player to be getting back and playing some VFL time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll be carefully managed, of course. I think he starts on the bench every quarter and will do all those type of things.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019ll be very excited, so I\u2019m looking forward to getting him back, but he certainly won\u2019t be ready for AFL footy at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Day was electric in last season\u2019s Opening Round, steering the Hawks to a win over Sydney at the SCG.<\/p>\n
Mitchell says he\u2019s not wanting a similar performance from Day on Friday but suspects the 24-year-old to be in a position to impact immediately.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be determined, we\u2019ll see how he goes this week, see how his movement is, how his confidence is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he gets back, stay back. That\u2019s the aim, it could be as early as next week or it could be longer than that.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s obviously coming back from a shoulder which means he\u2019s fitter, you can get a lot more physical work in, your physical profile, they can work pretty hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he\u2019s going to be ready for AFL footy at a high level straight away. Sometimes when you get back from a foot or a lower leg injury, it\u2019s hard to get the fitness based needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hawthorn takes on Adelaide in Launceston on Thursday night in one of the Hawks\u2019 final seven games in the Apple Isle.<\/p>\n