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