Will Day stay injury free?

We spoke to a renowned specialist sports physiotherapist

Subscribe to Hawks Insiders for all the news through Hawthorn-tinted glasses and more exclusive content.

Sugarcoated by the news that Jack Gunston and James Sicily are looking good ahead of round one (news which we all already knew), AFL media’s Josh Gabelich dropped a bombshell on Hawthorn supporters yesterday.

Writing on the AFL website, Gabelich said Day’s recovery had “taken longer than the medical department first hoped”, adding he was an unlikely starter for the round one clash against North Melbourne.

That was backed up by Sam Mitchell, who urged patience in his press conference yesterday. “Safety first with him but he's started to get back into his running, started to get back into his training. We're looking for him to have a 10- to 15-year career."

So how worried should we actually be? Let’s look at his injury history.

Road to the 2019 AFL Draft

Thanks to Rookie Me Central, we are able to get a good snapshot of Day’s football played in the lead up to the 2019 draft, and assess his junior footy injuries.

Day spent 2019 playing a significant number of games across multiple competitions including at West Adelaide in the reserves, the SANFL Under 18s and the Under 18s Championships.

He got through most of the year unscathed in terms of injuries and there were no concerns about his body heading into the draft.

Injury-free 2020

Despite only playing 11 of 18 games through the COVID-interrupted 2020 season, Day was in actual fact injury free throughout the year.

Day had a fantastic first pre-season at the club, with football boss Graham Wright stating in August: “Will Day's been very good in the pre-season, our first draft pick from last year, and we'd be really hopeful he'll get in and play some games this year."

With Box Hill victims of the VFL season being put on hold three weeks prior to the scheduled start of the premiership season, options to get game time ahead of a Seniors debut were limited.

And due to readiness as opposed to injury, it meant the Day debut didn’t come until round six against Collingwood.

Day played in 11 of the next 12 matches - being rested for the round 15 game against Adelaide after a nine game stretch.

2021 and the ankle anguish

It happened in round two. Josh Caddy. Image above. We all know how the story went.

We were somewhat blindsided by the severity of the injury - learning days later that Day would in fact require surgery for a fracture, and he began the course of rehab.

It was somewhat surprising to see him come back in round 13 against the Swans, and in that game as well as the Bombers game in round 14 he was relatively quiet by the lofty standards he and the fans had set.

In round 15 against the GWS he was in INCREDIBLE nick - registering 29 touches and seven marks before the ankle flared up and that ended up being the last we saw from him for the year.

Medical consultation

So what is the likely impact of the injury on a 20-year old? How cautious and patient do we need to be over the next 6-12 months? And should we be worried we never get to see the player he promises to be?

We are far from medical experts here at HI, so we thought best to ask someone more suited to answering the big questions.

We put those questions to Steve Sandor, a renowned specialist Sports Physiotherapist. Steve has a wealth of experience working in the industry including stints with the Richmond Football Club, at the Commonwealth Games, the Australia A cricket team , and the Victorian Bushrangers cricket team.

It’s important to note that Sandor is giving an opinion without MRI views, or knowing the true pathology of both ankle incidents in 2021 - nor the specifics of what was done surgically.

He says Day’s injury has the appearance of a “nasty ankle”, or a potential syndesmosis injury, echoing the calls for patience from fans.

“He may lose pace, jumping ability and twisting skills off that leg - the skills of his surgeon and rehab facilitators are crucial.

The positive is he has had time to put on a few kilos, but mustn’t get too bulky or heavy as mobility and speed are still required. (Editor’s note: not sure we have to worry about too bulky just yet!)

Having re-injured the ankle in round 15, the question is exactly what was damaged? The surgical site? Adjacent stuff to the site that never got to 100%? It has been five to six months to get back running, so therefore the second problem was substantial.

Expect him to be spoken about in terms of playing in 8-12 weeks all going well.

Then it has to measure up under match pressure. If it does, give him another six weeks to get [fully] match fit.”

At best that puts him in the frame for a round five return against the Cats (👀), but if the club are being super cautious we may not see Will until round 9 against Richmond in May.

Again, this needs to be taken in the context of not having access to the medical records to go into a deep dive as to the severity of the injury. But it certainly highlights the causes for concerns on how it may impact Day’s footy in the future, and that a cautious approach is probably the best one.

Sightings of Day on the track this week have done the rounds, suggesting he is hopefully not as far away as Sandor would suggest - fingers crossed.

What you think

We put it out our followers on Twitter to ask what level of concern there is among the faithful.

Turns out that with over 70% showing little to no concern, many of you think we should take today’s afl.com.au article, the delayed pre-season and Day’s likely absence in the early rounds, with a grain of salt.

We are taking it with a deep, deep breath. And might decide to exhale once our brilliant and promising #12 gets back on the park.

---

Join the Hawks Insiders community on Twitter and Facebook.