Star midfielder Dan Hannebery continues to raise the bar, not only for himself but for those around him amid another strong pre-season campaign.
Coming to the “pointy end” of his eighth pre-season, Hannebery has put a solid summer together resulting in him blitzing the conditioning components and push time trial specialist Jack Hiscox in every training session to date.
It follows a season of redemption for the 24-year-old who, from the view of the coaching staff and by his own admission, battled for form and fitness in a disappointing 2014.
“Hanners has probably had a couple of poor off-seasons,” assistant coach Stuart Dew said.
“To his credit, he turned that around last year and he’s picked up where he left off.
“It’s great to see. He’s in the top-three game runners I’ve seen in my time. His ability to get the most out of himself, back up and go again is superb.”
Hannebery enjoyed his best season to date last year to finish second in the Bob Skilton Medal and fifth in the Brownlow Medal count.
Four months on from winning those accolades, Hannebery’s progression has now seen him take the next step in regards to his leadership. The timing couldn’t be better given the departure of some experienced teammates including two from the last year’s leadership group (Adam Goodes and Rhyce Shaw).
“I’ve been here for seven or eight years now so it’s important that I look to the leaders to try and improve that part of my game,” he said.
“I’m trying to improve my leadership every day, not just ranting and raving and talking for the sake of it.
“I’m really trying to focus on giving guys feedback worthy of taking away and using in a positive way.”
With that in mind, could a spot in the leadership group be on the cards?
“It’s a goal, but the real focus is up-skilling the next crop coming through,” he added.
“A lot of the senior guys have spoken about this. With the number of players that are gone and with the amount of younger guys, the quicker they can start driving the group themselves the better we’ll be.”
A peer-reviewed system, the leadership group will be announced closer to next month’s NAB Challenge.
