Hannebery, who missed six matches battling an ankle syndesmosis injury, said he took the opportunity to watch as much football as he could during his time on the sidelines, including a trip to Melbourne to watch the Swans take on Hawthorn in round 18.
Speaking to media before training on Wednesday, Hannebery said he was able to take in the game from a new perspective during his time out with injury.
“I just think you don’t realise when you’re out there, but how quickly the game goes and how much momentum can swing pretty quickly,” Hannebery said.
“Also, how much the little things do matter, whether it be structures or certain players doing certain things, and how much that actually does affect the team’s performance.”
The 23-year-old described the Swans’ 10-point loss to the Hawks as a real eye-opener, and said the Hawthorn would certainly be one of the toughest opponents as September approaches.
“I was lucky to be able to sit here and watch a few games, and even go down to the Hawthorn versus Sydney game to see not just our team, but to see how good (Hawthorn) are at moving the footy,” he said.
“Certainly in (that) game, sitting there on level two at the MCG, it was just how good Hawthorn can be and how good their ball movement is (and) how super some of their players are.
“That’s something I picked up on, and you do get that different feel and different perspective and it was interesting.”
While Hannebery made the most of his time observing from the sidelines, the midfielder said his six-week break also helped revitalise him physically and mentally heading into the business end of the season.
With two matches under his belt since returning, Hannebery said he felt considerably fresher than at the same time last season.
“I felt great on the weekend and a lot fresher than I did last year, and that’s something I did notice on the weekend,” he said.
“I felt full of run and towards the back end of last year I was probably feeling a bit tired, and that was a small positive in the injury.
“(Being out with injury) gives you the opportunity to train twice as hard, because you can train every day of the week, albeit it off-legs, you still feel like you’re training harder because obviously during the season you get bumps and bruises and you can’t train them away during the week.
“There were small positives out of a negative I suppose.”
