The Hawthorn Hawks have released a pre-season health update, revealing that captain James Sicily is facing a compromised pre-season after undergoing surgery on his shoulder.
The operation, which Hawthorn High Performance Manager Peter Burge stated was only minor, was completed on the opposite shoulder that Sicily had reconstructed in September of 2024.
"It was just a small procedure," Burge told Hawthorn Media.
"He'll resume non-contact training when we return in January and into full contact towards February."
Sicily was dealt scrutiny for his underwhelming play to begin the year in 2025 off the back of his surgery, but turned things around in the back half of his 10th campaign, recording a disposal efficiency rate below 75 per cent just twice after Round 16.
As arguably Hawthorn's most important player, given his leadership and stout defensive instincts, the Hawks will be hoping he is able to quickly regain full fitness ahead of their blockbuster Opening Round clash with GWS on March 7.
Burge also revealed that Will Day is still managing his return from a late-season stress fracture in his foot, but hopes he will be fully reintegrated by February as the star makes positive progress toward full health.
Day managed just six games in 2025 due to a number of injury concerns, but was arguably Hawthorn's best player in each of those games, clinical with ball in hand and damaging via his clearance game.
"Will Day is going really well. He's training away from the group currently," Burge said.
"He's got a very individualised plan. He's also been able to build a base of conditioning in the last six to eight weeks, and we're just tracking that very slowly and carefully over this period and into the new year.
"Coming into January, he'll start doing some football training and integrate into the group in the second week of January, and then we'll be progressing his skills from January into February.
"We'll really build up his fitness and his football skills, and then look forward to the season ahead."
Finn Maginness is making progress in his recovery from a freak kidney laceration injury that he sustained in Round 18, but continues to train only in non-contact scenarios.
He's as disruptive of a tagger as they come and will look to assert that defensive presence back in the Hawks' engine room in 2026 once back at full strength, currently building his base of conditioning.
"Maginness is getting a lot of work in," Burge said.
"He's non-contact training at the moment, so he's been able to do half of our football sessions, but the parts where there has been full contact, he hasn't been able to do.
"He's been able to top up his conditioning, his agility, and we've introduced some very low-level contact-type stuff in the rehab group."
