For Hannebery, the nervous anticipation of draft day ended when his name was called at pick number 30 by the Sydney Swans.
“On the day I had a few family members over to my place in Melbourne - I wasn’t sure if I was going to get picked up at all, so didn’t want to have a big thing down there,” Hannebery recalled.
“We listened to the draft over the radio with everyone sitting around with their fingers crossed, and I was lucky enough to get called out.”
Far from being daunted by the prospect of relocating to the harbour city, Hannebery immediately began to look forward to the “awesome lifestyle” of being a professional footballer and Sydneysider.
“I had no expectations, I knew it would be an awesome experience and an awesome lifestyle, training every day and going to the beach, and being a part of a club and around such good guys.
“Around the draft, the whole enormity of it all does get you a couple of days out, you can get a bit overwhelmed by it all, but once it does happen, once the boys do get drafted, I’m sure after a week or two at their respective clubs they’ll feel brought back down to reality pretty quickly. You suddenly feel a part of the group and not as overwhelmed by the situation.”
Potential draftees preparing themselves for tonight’s draft would no doubt hope to emulate 18-year-old Hannebery’s fairytale start to his AFL career.
Most draftees can only hope to play a single senior match in their first year at a club, let along string together a run of solid performances in seven games. Hannebery, who juggled his VCE studies with intense training sessions and the Melbourne-Sydney commute, impressed Swans coaches with his sound work ethic and made his debut against Carlton in round 16.
“I wasn’t expecting to get a run in the seniors last year, but as it turned out I was lucky enough to get the opportunity,” he said.
“I thought my first four or five weeks of AFL footy were probably better than the last two or three weeks just in terms of the fact that I was a bit fresher. The whole idea of it was to just go out there and have a crack and just try and get a few touches of the footy. So there wasn’t a lot of pressure on me in terms of performing, and it was easier to go out and do what I had to do and do my best in terms of attacking the footy.
“As I started playing a bit more, I was expected to know a bit more and I became a bit tired in the last two or three weeks, juggling the whole thing. I did think I played well but thought my first two or three weeks were better than the last couple.”
Having finished his year 12 studies, Hannebery has made a more permanent move north and is currently participating in a gruelling schedule of pre-season training. As he continues to settle into Sydney life, he has some words of wisdom for tonight’s potential draftees.
“Just try to relax as much as possible, and not get too worked up by it all,” he said.
“That’s hard to do when you are potentially about to get taken onto an AFL list, but I think it’s best just to take it and make the most of the days before the draft and after the draft, because once you get to your club, your whole world’s going to change and your whole life’s going to change… So just take it in and make the most of it.”
Watch Henry Playfair's interview with Dan Hannebery here
