Hawthorn have ruled Will Day out from returning for the semi-final clash with Port Adelaide as the star midfielder remains on a limited training program in his recovery from a collarbone injury.
Day has been sidelined since hurting himself in the round 23 win against Richmond, missing the Hawks’ rousing elimination final win against the Western Bulldogs.
Even if Hawthorn down the Power at the Adelaide Oval on Friday night, Day appears unlikely to be available for the preliminary final against Sydney.
“He’s doing a lot of non-contact training at the moment and plenty of conditioning, which is fantastic,” Hawthorn high performance boss Peter Burge said.
“Will is a professional, he’s doing everything he can and he’s certainly working really, really hard on his game.
“If you were out here (at training), he’s doing some non-contact football drills, he looks fantastic, but we’re just not in a position to progress (to contact) yet, unfortunately.”
Fellow Hawks midfielder Cam Mackenzie will miss another week after sitting out the match against the Bulldogs due a hamstring injury.
It follows the news on Sunday that key defender Sam Frost will miss the rest of the season due to bone stress in his foot.
But the surging Hawks insist they can cover the absence of Frost down back when they travel to face Port Adelaide on Friday night.
Ruckman Lloyd Meek said he was feeling for Frost, who has played every game this year, but the Hawks had full faith in whoever comes in.
“It’s heartbreaking for us,” he said on Monday.
“We’re a tight-knit group, and he’s played such a huge role for us this year.
“Finn Maginness, Josh Ward and Harry Morrison, they’ve been a little bit on the fringe, but they all had massive games on Friday night.”
Jarman Impey plays alongside Frost in defence and will miss his towering presence, which allows captain James Sicily to intercept across halfback.
But like Meek, Impey believes Hawthorn can continue their winning ways and progress to their first preliminary final since 2015.
“Very sad that Sam went down on the weekend and he’s not going to play this weekend,” Impey said.
“The boys are absolutely feeling for ‘Frosty’ because he deserves to be out there running alongside us.”
Hawthorn won’t be short on key defenders next year if there is an injury with West Coast’s Tom Barrass and St Kilda’s Josh Battle set to join the club during the trade period.
“Being able to get to this position at the end of the year (in finals) and being able to have some new players coming in as well is very exciting,” Impey said.
“It just shows that there’s people that want to be a part of what we’re trying to create and what we’re trying to build so very excited that we can hopefully get a few more to the list and make us stronger for the future.”
The Hawks, who finished seventh after the home-and-away season, will start as warm favourites to beat the third-ranked Power, who are coming off an embarrassing 84-point qualifying final smashing by Geelong.