St Kilda’s Dan Hannebery admits the two injury-ravaged AFL seasons since his high-profile move from Sydney have been the toughest period of his decorated career.

But the veteran midfielder is confident his soft-tissue woes are finally behind him as he eyes a return for what should be a drought-breaking Saints finals campaign.

Hannebery, who joined St Kilda in a trade on a lucrative five-year contract, has managed just 10 matches for them because of repeated hamstring setbacks.

“It’s been the most challenging couple of years I’ve had in my footy career in terms of injury and setbacks and frustration from the level that I was able to get to and not being able to display that sort of football that I knew I was capable of just through injury,” Hannebery said on Wednesday.

The three-time All-Australian is continuing his latest comeback bid in the AFL’s Gold Coast quarantine hub this week, training alongside rival stars Gary Ablett (Geelong) and Shane Edwards (Richmond).

Their quarantine period ends on Tuesday but Hannebery concedes he won’t complete enough of a training workload to push for selection against Greater Western Sydney in round 18.

The 29-year-old will put the finishing touches on his program during the bye week, which will include some sort of match practice, quite possibly involving a rival club.

“Just given the fact that I’m not with the main group, it makes sense to get more than one (full training) session in before playing an AFL game,” Hannebery said.

“I’m reasonably confident … another week or two of training will put me in a really good spot and the shortened games help in a sense.

“By the time I’m looking to play I would’ve had nine weeks of work and feeling pretty good for the majority.”

Hannebery has taken heart from successful recoveries made by players who underwent similar hamstring surgery with renowned orthopaedic surgeon Julian Feller, including Collingwood’s Jamie Elliott.

“There was a bit of funky stuff when he went in there and fingers crossed that’s the end of it,” Hannebery said.

“It’s been the side the whole way through. My left’s been good, touch wood.

“It’s been that same area and same spot … hopefully I’ll stay reasonably healthy from here on in.”

St Kilda can all but guarantee themselves a first finals appearance since 2011 with a win over West Coast on Thursday night.