The weekend of May 23-24 has emerged as Hawthorn midfielder Will Day's return to competitive footy.
The injury-plagued Hawk will return through the VFL following his pre-season shoulder injury, having been sidelined for more than 40 games across the past three seasons.
“He's progressing well. He's doing more football training and just adding the minutes up with football training. We're getting more specific with his contact, he's resumed contact with the group," High Performance Manager Peter Burge said.
"He'll be resuming full training over the next week, and then we're still looking at that Round 11 AFL, but returning in the VFL that week, I think it's VFL Round 9 against Williamstown. That's the plan which we're shooting towards, but yeah, still some more work to do and more football sessions to put together.”
Speaking on AFL 360, Day reiterated that he is progressing well as he nears a return.
"I'm getting very close now which is exciting. It was quite slow at the start in that period but now getting back into training, it gets more frustrating thinking I can do more than what the medical team prescribe. I'm in a really good spot and keen to get back out there and play again," Day said.
"I'll play a game of VFL, at least one...we'll see from there how the body's feeling. I haven't played a lot of footy in the last 18-24 months. I'm keen to get back out there and enjoy it again.
"There has probably been two or three weeks of increased contact so it has been good to get that going. As of next week, I think I'll pretty much be back fully training which I'm really excited for."
Box Hill takes on Williamstown on Friday May 22, with St Kilda and Footscray to follow. The AFL side also plays St Kilda and the Dogs across the subsequent fortnight.
