Hawthorn High Performance Manager Peter Burge has provided an update on how the group is tracking this pre-season. 

Having commenced 2026 preparations in November, Burge says the team is progressing well and will continue to build towards next season when training resumes in January. 

He also provided an update on the health of James Sicily, Finn Maginness and Will Day, with the key points from his interview summarised below. 

On how the group is tracking this pre-season

“They’ve been tracking well and working really, really hard. We’ve been setting ourselves up for the new year and to ramp up our football program. What we’ve seen in the last week and a half is that we’ve started to introduce some more match-play scenarios in training, the duration of training has started to increase, and the intensity of training has started to lift. We’re building a great base to hit the new year running.”

On James Sicily

“Sis had a procedure at the end of last season on his shoulder. It was his other shoulder to the shoulder that he had surgery on the year before. It was just a small procedure. He’ll resume non-contact training when we return in January and into full contact towards February.”

On Finn Maginness

“He’s getting a lot of work in. 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 but he’s been able to top up his conditioning, his agility and just introduce some very low-level contact-type stuff in the rehab group with Jack Price (Rehab Coordinator).”

On Will Day

“Will Day is going really well. He’s training away from the group currently. 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 looking forward to the season ahead.”

On the next phase of pre-season training

“We’ll train for three weeks here in Melbourne, out here in this great facility. Then we’ll head to Torquay for a three-day camp, as we’ve done the last couple of years. We’ll train down there and also do some connection with the group and some activities outside of training, but predominantly, just some connection and team building at training camp.”

Watch Peter Burge’s full update below