Injury-plagued St Kilda star Dan Hannebery hopes his latest setback only puts him a couple of weeks behind in his AFL pre-season.
Hannebery was out of his moon boot and back in running shoes as most of the Saints returned to training on Monday with a 3km time trial.
Last month the midfielder suffered a foot fracture at a backyard in Perth, with Hannebery saying the incident was as bizarre as it was frustrating.
“I won’t say the exact word, but there were probably four or five profanities, said pretty regularly,” he said.
“I was pretty flat there, probably for a week or so, but once you accept the reality of it all and you get told … it shouldn’t impact you too much, it takes the anxiety a bit and you can just focus on your recovery.
“I’m just rapt I’m out of my moon boot, which was pretty frustrating there for a couple of weeks.”
Hannebery said he was going to be managed through to Christmas anyway before the foot injury.
“It’s not too bad, I’m only probably two weeks behind where I would be,” he said.
The 28-year-old only played five games last season in his first year at the Saints.
A succession of soft-tissue injuries had set him back and coach Alan Richardson said Hannebery’s body needed “a bit of a rebuild”.
Hannebery also was restricted to 15 games at Sydney in 2017.
“I feel like I’m on top of that now,” Hannebery said of his previous troubles.
“I’m hopeful that post this little niggle, I can get a clear run and just help the whole side out … make the team better.”
There is plenty of excitement around the Saints, with new coach Brett Ratten in his first full season and several experienced players recruited through the trade period.
But Hannebery said the key will be how well they work in the next few months.
“I’m pretty firm of the belief that just because we might have seven, eight, nine new players in the team, it doesn’t really guarantee us anything,” he said.
“Nothing is won in November.
“We really need to work super, super hard this pre-season to improve a lot of elements in our game.”
