Will Day

Will Day (born 5 June 2001) is a professional Australian rules footballer with the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Day is the grandson of 1971 VFL Grand Final premiership player Robert Day.

Early career
Will played his junior football at local club PHOS Camden. He was part of the SANFL junior development programs at Glenelg before transferring to West Adelaide, (where his grandfather had played) for better opportunities. In 2019, he played for South Australia in the under-18 national championships as well as playing three reserves games. He went to school at Sacred Heart College.

AFL career
Day's AFL career was initially hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a young player coming into the system, Day would normally start by playing with the Hawthorn affiliate, Box Hill Hawks, but because that competition had been suspended for the year he had to show his mettle with scratch matches against other AFL clubs.

Day made his AFL debut in Round 6, 2020, against at Giants Stadium. Day received a Rising Star nomination after round 16, 2020.

He had an injury-affected season in 2021. He fractured an ankle against Richmond in Round 3. He recovered in time to play in round 13 that year and played another three games for the season before having complications from his earlier injury.

Day re-signed with Hawthorn until 2027 in April 2023.

Statistics
Updated to the end of round 18, 2024.

! colspan=3| Career ! 65 !! 12 !! 12 !! 697 !! 620 !! 1317 !! 299 !! 186 !! 0.2 !! 0.2 !! 10.7 !! 9.5 !! 20.3 !! 4.6 !! 2.9 !! 9
 * 2020 || || 30
 * 11 || 1 || 1 || 100 || 72 || 172 || 48 || 15 || 0.1 || 0.1 || 9.1 || 6.5 || 15.6 || 4.4 || 1.4 || 0
 * 2021 || || 12
 * 5 || 0 || 0 || 55 || 44 || 99 || 25 || 8 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 11.0 || 8.8 || 19.8 || 5.0 || 1.6 || 1
 * 2022 || || 12
 * 17 || 3 || 1 || 169 || 104 || 273 || 68 || 33 || 0.2 || 0.1 || 9.9 || 6.1 || 16.1 || 4.0 || 1.9 || 0
 * 2023 || || 12
 * 21 || 6 || 6 || 262 || 275 || 537 || 122 || 73 || 0.3 || 0.3 || 12.5 || 13.1 || 25.6 || 5.8 || 3.5 || 8
 * 2024 || || 12
 * 11 || 2 || 4 || 110 || 125 || 235 || 36 || 57 || 0.2 || 0.4 || 10.0 || 11.4 || 21.4 || 3.3 || 5.2 ||
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * 21 || 6 || 6 || 262 || 275 || 537 || 122 || 73 || 0.3 || 0.3 || 12.5 || 13.1 || 25.6 || 5.8 || 3.5 || 8
 * 2024 || || 12
 * 11 || 2 || 4 || 110 || 125 || 235 || 36 || 57 || 0.2 || 0.4 || 10.0 || 11.4 || 21.4 || 3.3 || 5.2 ||
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * }

Notes

Honours and achievements
Individual
 * Peter Crimmins Medal: 2023
 * Paul Dear memorial medal: 2023
 * Lethal award: 2023
 * best first year player (debut season): 2020
 * AFL Rising Star nominee: 2020
 * 22under22 team: 2023