Young Swans star Dan Hannebery felt he was just a couple of weeks away from reaching full fitness following last September’s operation to repair his dislocated shoulder.

Unfortunately for Hannebery, his pre-season received another slight set-back last week when he again had to go under the knife - this time to remove a loose piece of cartilage in his left knee.

Speaking to SwansTV, the 20-year old midfielder said last Friday’s surgery went well and his goal is to returning to running in a few weeks, with intensive physio work in the interim.

“Everything went to plan, it was a pretty minor ‘scope - just a little bit of a clean-up,” Hannebery said.

“The first week I can’t do a lot because the stitches are still in, so I’ve got to wait before I can get them out. You don’t want to sweat too much and risk infection.

“It will be about two or three weeks before I can run and (after that) I won’t be too far away from full training I don’t think.”

As with most situations, Hannebery will try and make the best of his time away from the training track by focusing on other facets of his game he can improve while not on his feet.

“You can focus on other areas that you probably wouldn’t be able to focus on if you’re doing full training,” he said.

“It might be upper body weights, it might be stability, you can eat a bit less and probably lose a couple of kilos so you come back a bit lighter, or watch a lot of vision with the coaches.

“You just try and take the few positives that you can out of it.”

Hannebery was amongst the leading pack in all the Swans time trials prior to Christmas, and like the rest of the Swans group, had also been honing his skills before his minor knee operation.

The 52-gamer is confident he can pick up where he left off when given the all-clear to resume training, with the aim of playing as soon as possible.

“I was doing a lot of skill work and decision making (before the operation) … once I get back I’ll just keep doing that,” Hannebery said.

“Most guy’s goals are obviously to train every session as best as possible and then try and play round 1 of the NAB Cup and go from there.

“This just sets you back a few weeks in your running and your sole focus is getting that right, and once you get that right it’s just finding a normal training pattern and then trying to play as soon as you can.”