Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell has backed Will Day to continue influencing AFL games as he braces for a battle with relentless GWS tagger Toby Bedford.
Day has attracted close attention from opponents since turning heads with a scintillating first half in the Hawks' season-opener against Sydney.
The 23-year-old midfielder tallied 19 disposals, five clearances and three goals before the Swans sent James Jordon to limit the damage.
Essendon's Sam Durham and Mason Redman combined to restrict Day to 16 touches and a goal, and Carlton's George Hewett earned praise for his two-way job on the Hawks star.
Now Bedford looms as a likely match-up for Day in a huge clash between two early-season flag fancies in Launceston on Saturday night.
"Will's been sat on pretty heavily the last couple of weeks and he's still been able to have a positive influence for the team," Mitchell said.
"He perhaps doesn't have as prolific numbers as he did in the first half of the first game of the season.
"But if they go to someone it means they have to give up something else and we'll see if we can make that work for the team."
Bedford has enjoyed a strong start to the season, playing significant roles in the unbeaten Giants' wins over Collingwood and Melbourne.
The hard-running tagger blunted Magpies superstar Nick Daicos before running with Demons guns Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver.
Giants coach Adam Kingsley has had a close eye on Day, who presents as an obvious target for Bedford this week.
"(Day's) opening-round game was absolutely outstanding ... he's an outstanding player," Kingsley said.
"We have tagged him in the past because we know how important he is to them, but you lock Day away and then (Jai) Newcombe bobs up, and he's best on ground.
"They've got plenty of options to tag, a lot of really good players.
"We'll need to choose really carefully around who we go with, but we have done him in the past."
