Injury-cursed Hawthorn star Will Day has been ruled out for the season.

Day returned from Friday night’s clash with Adelaide “with a heavy limp” and in a moon boot.

7NEWS reporter Xander McGuire revealed precautionary scans confirmed more bone stress in his foot.

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“Precautionary scans have revealed more bone stress in his foot. Further assessment in the coming days will determine a path forward, McGuire tweeted.

“A disaster for Hawthorn’s finals push.”

Day was playing just his second match since returning from a foot injury.

His latest injury is a hammer blow for the Hawks and their hopes of making the finals.

They remain in sixth place, but with matches to come against Collingwood and Brisbane, their position in the top-eight appears most vulnerable.

Day limped from the ground in the last quarter in what has become one of several hot-button topics about the thriller at Adelaide Oval.

Umpires controversially stopped play when they saw Day cramping, and allowed him time to hobble from the field despite the fact he was more than 50 metres away from the action.

Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks raged over the pause in the game, while Seven’s AFL experts also questioned the decision to stop play.

“He was nowhere near that ball-up. He was 50 metres away with cramp ...,” Matthew Richardson said

“Now that’s just bad luck if you get cramp.”

And Kane Cornes said cramping could now be used as a loophole for clubs to “exploit”.

Channel 7 reporter Xander McGuire said Day struggled with his calves throughout the entire match.

“My understanding is Will Day is actually on half training loads at the moment,” McGuire said.

“So you will rarely see Day on the track on Mondays and Tuesdays at the moment (as he) recovers from those stress related injuries.”

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell was asked about Day’s condition after the game.

“I don’t have an answer yet,” Mitchell said.

“He was cramping, he had ice on most parts of his lower body, as plenty of the players do, so unsure just yet.”

Day has only managed six games this season and had only just returned last week for the Hawks clash with Carlton.

His previous appearance was way back in Round 3.

Following that clash with GWS, a stress fracture was discovered in Day’s right foot and he had surgery in April on his navicular bone.

Day had the same injury in 2024 which restricted him to 16 games and sidelined him for the first few months of that season.