AFL 2024: Hawthorn sends Will Day for surgery on collarbone

Hawthorn star Will Day will go under the knife this week after the Hawks delayed surgery on his collarbone to keep him in contention for a finals comeback.

The 23-year-old will undergo a procedure on Friday to treat the complex partial dislocation of his “SC joint”, which connects the collarbone and the sternum.

Day suffered the injury in Hawthorn’s round 23 win over Richmond and was sidelined for the last four weeks of the season despite pushing to return for the Hawks’ finals campaign.

The reigning best and fairest trained strongly at Waverley Park in the lead-up to the semi-final against Port Adelaide but was unable to graduate to full contact in time to press his case for selection.

Hawthorn confirmed on Wednesday that he would have the operation before being able to build towards a return to full training at the start of pre-season in late November.

James Sicily is also expected to undergo shoulder surgery in the off-season after suffering two dislocations – in round 8 against the Western Bulldogs and round 16 against West Coast.

The Hawthorn captain was able to play through pain to have a significant impact at both ends of the ground after missing only one game following the second injury against the Eagles.

Day’s absence was not felt by the Hawks as they demolished the Bulldogs’ midfield in the qualifying final, but it was clear they lacked his bite in the three-point loss to the Power, as they were convincingly beaten in contested possessions and ground ball gets.

Hawthorn fitness boss Peter Burge said before the semi-final that Day had been stuck in “the same situation” where he was unable to do contact training.

“We’re just not in a position to progress to contact, so the joint stability, the integrity of that needs to have improved, (is) not at a level where it has, and that’s a really important part of making this decision to progress to contact,” Burge said.

“So at this stage, we’re still in the same situation that we can do a lot of training around it but we can’t do contact and if we can’t do contact training, we can’t play, so that’s frustrating.”

As they brace for the inclusions of free agent Josh Battle and West Coast star Tom Barrass via trade, Hawthorn cut two players from its list on Tuesday.

Midfielder Cooper Stephens and forward-ruck Clay Tucker were not offered contracts for 2025 after Chad Wingard confirmed his retirement earlier this month.

Stephens, 23, played seven senior games for Geelong but was unable to break into Hawthorn’s side after a trade at the end of 2022, with several concussion setbacks in the VFL.