Dan Hannebery will join celebrations for former Swans teammates Kieren Jack, Jarrad McVeigh and Lance Franklin
He might be plying his trade at St Kilda, but the draw means Dan Hannebery will be on hand to join former Swans teammates on an important night of celebration for the club.
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Dan Hannebery might arrive wearing a black stripe on his shirt, but he will return to the red and white fold on Saturday night as a VIP guest for the Sydney Swans farewell party.
It’s fitting that the former Swans champion will be at the SCG for one of the most sentimental celebrations in club history even though he will line up on the other side of the fence for St Kilda after quitting Sydney for a fresh start this year.
Hannebery is unsure if he will be invited to cross enemy lines and help chair retiring greats Kieren Jack and Jarrad McVeigh, and 300-man Lance Franklin, from the field, but he will attend the Swans’ post-match festivities to knock back a few beers with his old mates.
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Until this year, Hannebery lived 100 metres from Jack’s front door and the pair was inseparable throughout a famous era at the Swans, with the pinnacle being the 2012 premiership, which McVeigh, and fellow retirees Nick Smith and Heath Grundy were also a part of.
Hannebery also played in two grand finals with Franklin and says the bonds formed in 2014 and ’16 where the club ended up on the wrong side of the ledger on the big day are just as significant in his journey as a player.
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If not for the chronic hamstring injuries which convinced him he needed a change, Hannebery might still be a Swan. But fate has allowed him to be on hand anyway to honour a dynasty he helped build, and the celebrations look set to go on long into the night.
“It’s pretty unusual you get to play your former side (in a match where) some of your great mates are retiring and playing their last game. I’m really excited and really honoured to be able to share in the special day and night with arguably two of the Swans’ greatest ever players and certainly two great mates in Kieren and Macca,” Hannebery told The Daily Telegraph.
“And Buddy’s 300th makes it even more special from my perspective.
“The plan is I’ll stay overnight in Sydney and get around Kieren and Macca, they were huge for me for 10 years of my life. As a 17, 18-year-old kid they were the older brother figures when you move away from home. There’s no doubt I’ll be staying around and getting around them and making it a special day and night for them.
“It’s certainly something I’ll remember.”
Sydney is yet to confirm McVeigh will play in his own farewell game, given he is pushing the boundaries with his recovery from a long-term calf injury.
Hannebery however, says as long as McVeigh can get out of bed, he will play.
“Knowing Macca he’s a determined bugger, and even if he’s on one leg I’m almost certain he’ll play,” said Hannebery.
“It’d be great for the AFL world to see him off the right way.
“All the Sydney boys have been pretty cagey to me. I haven’t heard a lot out of them. I’m pretty sure Kieren and Macca and Bud will be head down, bum up just trying to get out there, and I’m the same.”
Hannebery says it’s been an arduous first year for him at St Kilda, battling feelings of guilt to Saints fans who have only seen him play five matches.
But the 28-year-old says he left Sydney with no regrets and is confident his luck will turn at the Saints in 2020.
“No doubt there might have been some people (at the Swans) disappointed in my decision (to leave) but I think at the end of the day we were both on the same page,” said Hannebery.
“I certainly wasn’t upholding my end of the bargain with my last two years at the club in terms of my performance … and I think both myself and the Swans were both happy with the call.
“The club has a really special place in my heart, as does Horse (coach, John Longmire) and the playing group. I’m forever grateful and indebted to them for what they did for me.
“This year has been bloody frustrating personally. When you go to a new club all you want to do is be able to set the tone and example for your teammates and your coaches and win some respect off the supporters who are rightly frustrated by a player that the club gives up a little bit in a sense to (come) to their club. I can sense that frustration of being there through the year, but no one is more frustrated or trying to work as hard to get themselves out there as myself.
“Although it has been a disappointing year, I feel like it’s been a real learning one for myself and the club in terms of working out what is the right amount of training and load that I need to be able to do to get myself right and I feel like we’ve finally found a pretty good sweet spot.
“I’ve only played five games but I’ve done a mountain of training and I feel like I’ve set myself up for a really solid pre-season and a really solid year next year. It doesn’t guarantee anything, and I said something similar last year, but I feel like I’m in a better position now and with more confidence and I feel the club has slightly more confidence in what that looks like from a team perspective.
“I think we’re in an exciting position we just need to make sure we make every post a winner going into next season and really learn and build off a year that’s had its ups and downs.”
Hannebery said reports that have speculated his mysterious hamstring virtually needed to be rebuilt have been overblown.
“I didn’t necessarily have to rebuild my hamstring, that was probably taken a little bit out of context and over-sensationalised,” he said.
“Really what I needed to do was get a significant amount of strength and running load back into my legs which I hadn’t had for two or three years without pre-seasons.
“Mainly the rebuild wasn’t a rebuild as such at all, it was reconditioning the whole body to be able to cope with AFL footy again. That takes time and it was bloody frustrating.
“I feel like I’m in a better position now to have a bit of a break and reload and get ready for a big pre-season.”
Originally published as Dan Hannebery will join celebrations for former Swans teammates Kieren Jack, Jarrad McVeigh and Lance Franklin
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