AFL
8 hours ago
"He'll have surgery": Will Day injury timeline laid out
By Connor Scanlon
2023 Peter Crimmins Medallist Will Day can’t catch of a break with his recent run of injuries.
The star Hawk suffered a dislocation in the right shoulder at Hawthorn’s pre-season training on Thursday, resulting in the midfielder being expected to sit on the sidelines for three months, according to expert sports physician Dr. Peter Larkins.
This shoulder dislocation also comes after a double foot stress fracture in his 2025 season and a collarbone injury in his 2024 season.
Due to the severity of his recent shoulder dislocation and Day’s past trauma around that same shoulder, Dr. Peter Larkins is predicting the 24-year-old to require surgery and be out of action until Gather Round (Round 5).
“In the best of circumstances, it's a three-month recovery, if you have it fixed properly,” Dr. Peter Larkins told SEN Breakfast.
“It looked like it was pretty painful - it was clearly fully dislocated.
“Plus, this is the same shoulder that he had significant ligament injuries on (from his collarbone injury), so it's already got a little bit of looseness attached to that shoulder.
“I'd imagine if (Hawthorn) can find an experienced AFL surgeon who's not on holiday still, he would have (the surgery done now).
“Because look, in the best of circumstances, he's got a three-month journey ahead of him - that'll be Gather Round in Adelaide.”
The doctor continued by justifying why Hawthorn should rush into surgery with Day, stating that prior history suggests if the midfielder does not operate on his shoulder, then he will re-injure it again during the season.
“You wouldn't expect they won’t do surgery. In other words, I think he'll have surgery,” Dr. Peter Larkins said.
“When you've got a star like that with the history that he's had - the history says that if you've had a dislocation of that degree, off the back of previous shoulder concerns, the chances of it coming out are 100% again during the season.
“So, I don't think the Hawks would want to risk (him) having a bigger chunk of time missed, (compared to) if he has a worse injury when trying to (rush) back in three or four weeks.”
