St Kilda confident recruit Dan Hannebery on road to recovery despite long injury lay-off

St Kilda’s decision to recruit Dan Hannebery on a long-term deal came under scrutiny at the time, but coach Alan Richardson isn’t worried despite the former Swan’s body letting him down.

St Kilda coach Alan Richardson is confident his club will get on top of Dan Hannebery’s injury woes despite the coach saying the former Swan needed to be “rebuilt”.

Hannebery struggled through injury in his final season in Sydney before joining the Saints on a lucrative five-year deal.

The hard-running midfielder has suffered calf and hamstring complaints during the summer but had hoped to return early in the season.

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However Richardson said Hannebery’s body hadn’t coped with the demands.

“He’s been getting sore, basically anywhere to do with his legs — particularly his calves and his hamstrings, but as we’ve upped the load in terms of intensity, his body has just struggled,” Richardson said.

Injured Saint Dan Hannebery has only made slow progress. Pic: Michael Klein

“He’s had two years where he just hasn’t been able to put in the work.

“He’s gone out and played without great prep. He’s been able to do that for a fair while, he’s a real warrior ... I reckon it’s caught up with him.”

Speaking on SEN, Richardson said the left-footer was still some way off starting his career in a Saints jumper.

“To some extent he needs to be rebuilt,” he said.

“I don’t think I did say Round 4, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s longer than Round 4 (until he plays).

“It’ll take a while. Now I’m hoping it’ll be sooner. It’ll depend a little bit on how he responds but right now, the response has been slow.

“Did we think it was going to be as significant as this? No we didn’t, but we did know that we were getting in a bloke that needed, to some extent, to rebuild.

“(So) probably not to this extent but that’s OK — he’s here for as long time, he’s not here just for a short time.

Paddy McCartin (left) remains on the sidelines with Hannebery. Picture: Ian Currie

“If it means he’s not with us for a month longer than we thought, that’s fine. We think overall he’s going to be enormous for our group.”

Richardson said the Saints’ medical team were confident that, after spending a significant time with Hannebery, they would be able to fix the issues that had plagued him in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, Richardson said concussion victim Paddy McCartin’s future remains up in the air, the key forward still suffering symptoms from his latest head knock.

“I’m not confident of him being be back (at AFL level) soon,” he said.

“I am confident he’ll be back playing (at some stage) but he’s symptomatic.”

Originally published as St Kilda confident recruit Dan Hannebery on road to recovery despite long injury lay-off