May-Day: Nightmare scenario for Hawks as they lose a star for the season

Hawthorn’s premiership hopes have been rocked with star midfielder Will Day to miss the rest of the season.

Day, 24, was left with a bone stress injury in his right foot after he was stomped on in Friday night’s 14-point loss to the Adelaide Crows.

He was sent for precautionary scans in Melbourne on Saturday after the team arrived home. The scans revealed bone stress in his navicular, the same injury to the same foot that had him requiring surgery and sidelined for four months before he returned to senior football last weekend.

But the Hawks are uncertain at this stage whether Day will require surgery to repair this injury. Hawthorn football boss Rob McCartney said it was disappointing news for Day, and defended how the club had managed his recovery from his earlier injury.

“We know Will has put in a mountain of work to get back to playing, and indeed performing, at the elite level, and we are really disappointed for him,” McCartney said.

“The club’s medical and high performance team have taken extra precautions with Will throughout his rehabilitation this year. This included very closely managing his workload and consulting external specialists both in Victoria and interstate to help guide his return to play timeline.

“Will is an outstanding person who has showcased an incredible amount of resilience, and we know he will engage his rehab with the same attitude.

“As a club, we will obviously support Will throughout every stage of his rehabilitation and wrap our arms around him as he navigates this tough period.”

A Hawks spokesman later said Day had regular scans throughout his rehabilitation, and they showed no obvious issues heading into the Crows game.

Day had left the field on Friday with what appeared to be cramp late in the final term. Play was controversially stopped to allow him to hobble off before he began a light jog.

However, he returned to Melbourne on Saturday with his right foot in a moon boot.

Day is arguably the Hawks’ most important player. His absence will have not only a major impact on whether the Hawks make the finals, but whether they can challenge for the flag.

They need to win at least two, and possibly all, of their final three games to make the finals, beginning against Collingwood on Thursday night.

Day had only returned to action last weekend, having been sidelined since round three, when he required surgery.

The decision to stop play for Day to leave the field at a stoppage with just over three minutes remaining in the game on Friday night added to confusion around the injured player send-off rule.

The AFL this season introduced new rules to allow umpires to stop play so players impacted by head knocks could leave the field to help with concussion management, while umpires are also told to stop play if a player is seriously injured near where the ball is. Day was more than 50 metres away.

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks was incensed over the pause in the game when his team was leading by 16 points, while Fox Footy and Seven’s AFL experts also questioned the decision to stop play.

“He was nowhere near that ball-up. He was 50 metres away with cramp. Now that’s just bad luck if you get cramp,” Matthew Richardson told Seven.

Fellow Seven commentator Kane Cornes and Fox Footy’s Garry Lyon said cramping could be used as a loophole for clubs to “exploit”.

“Knock that on the head straight away. Let’s treat head knocks with the seriousness they need. But if it’s a tap on the ankle or a sore knee, bounce it and away you go,” Lyon said.

“[The Day incident] is 40-55m off the play. This doesn’t stop the game.”

Hawks great Jason Dunstall told Fox Footy “you can’t stop the game for cramp” and “there’s something wrong with that rule.”

Jack Ginnivan, meanwhile, has joined the AFL’s middle finger fine club after receiving a $1500 fine ($1000 early plea) for an obscene gesture after he flipped his middle finger at some fans.

He didn’t give the double bird like Bailey Smith did earlier in 2025, but he flipped them off with feeling nonetheless.

Teammate Jai Newcombe was also fined $1500 ($1000 early plea) for contact with an umpire.

Both acts were first offences.

Thanks so much for joining us today and tonight for a huge day of footy.

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Collingwood coach Craig McRae admits he was frustrated with his side’s lack of kicking which invited pressure on the side.

But he remains confident his side will adjust ahead of the finals.

“I’m an eternal optimist and I have so much trust and belief. If you are a Collingwood supporter, you would think we’ve played as bad as we’ve played since round zero,” McRae said.

“That’s real. But it would be disrespecting Brisbane’s hunt, pressure and we invited pressure by handballing too much. I sent the runner out three times to say “can we kick the ball”. I could hear supporters saying kick it and they Bronx cheered us when we kicked it.

“Those things we can improve but I’ve got great belief in this team because there is so much trust built. I think we would still have the best defence but we’ve got work to do.”

Collingwood coach Craig McRae hasn’t shirked the issue – his side was outplayed tonight.

But he won’t react wildly to the loss.

“You don’t sugarcoat it, we were just outplayed,” McRae said.

“Apparently, Brisbane had a pretty stern session on their contest work and I asked our group, ‘Do you want that from me?’ I don’t think we need it. I have a lot of trust in the group. It hasn’t been a pattern, but it is disappointing.

“It’s feedback. That’s three games in four weeks where the game [result] has given us feedback. It was different feedback tonight. The other weeks were a little similar. I was more frustrated after the Fremantle match, to be honest, because the numbers suggested we had played quite well. Tonight, we were outplayed by a really good team – a hungry team.

“It’s good to get that lesson now.”

Lions coach Chris Fagan believes his team still needs one more win to assure themselves of a finals spot, but he thinks his side can do anything.

Fagan is impressed with how his side have handled the tag of ‘reigning premiers’, and he’s urging them to take the challengers head-on as the finals draw closer.

“Wins like tonight boost the confidence and make you believe you can do anything,” Fagan told Fox Footy.

Fagan, a former teacher, laughed at the antics of young defender Darcy Wilmot, who walked past him as he started his interview and tickled him under the ear while saying, “Well done mate”.

“That’s Darcy Willmot, he’s a madman, but you’ve just got to let him be as he plays great footy,” Fagan said with a laugh.

“I don’t mind them if they show their individuality. They can stir me up all they like as long as they get to work when the game starts.”

Lions midfielder Hugh McCluggage put on a dominant display at the MCG tonight and teammate Lachie Neale was direct in where he ranked his good mate.

He also said McCluggage had to be an All-Australian this season.

“He has to be – [given] the work that he’s done on his inside game to complement his outside work. He’s become an inside mid in the last four or five years and he’s so clean around the stoppages and you see how damaging he is in open space,” Neale told Fox Footy.

“He is one of the best, if not the best [in the league] – Nick Daicos is probably the best and Hughy is not far behind him as a midfielder, I reckon.”