Injury-cursed Saint Dan Hannebery will undergo surgery on his right calf on Thursday as club medical staff desperately try to rid him of his perennial soft-tissue woes.
The 31-year-old, who is out of contract this year, has played only 15 games in three seasons since crossing from Sydney on a lucrative deal – and suffered another setback on Saturday.
The news comes as veteran ruckman Paddy Ryder prepares to play his first senior match for the year after successfully negotiating his VFL return last week after achilles issues.
Key defender Dougal Howard (health and safety protocols) is another important addition for the clash with Richmond at Marvel Stadium on Sunday.
Coach Brett Ratten confirmed Hannebery would go under the knife to fix this latest issue and be sidelined for between six and eight weeks.
“It’s frustrating for Dan. He’s worked so hard, but I think this will allow him to maybe overcome the calf injuries that he‘s had and hopefully it’s a clean slate for him when he gets back,” Ratten said.
“So, hopefully it’s six weeks, he gets over it and before you know it, he’s playing the last part of the year and having an influence on games, which he can do.
“He is frustrated. You think of what he’s achieved in the game and then not to play the game that you love – it’s frustrating for anybody.
“So, he’ll have the operation, take a little bit of time, but he’ll be back and I think it will help him enormously.”
Ratten said Hannebery hadn’t been sent for surgery earlier because it hadn’t always been the same injury, but the club remained confident he could play regular senior football.
He was adamant there had been no discussions about a mutual early parting between player and club despite Hannebery’s body continually breaking down.
“That hasn’t been talked of and it won’t be talked of,” Ratten said.
“Dan’s preparing himself to have an impact in the second half of the year. We’re at round 2, and let’s say he misses eight (weeks), that’s round 10.
“There’s a lot of footy to be played, so we’re not talking anything like that.
“We want Dan to be fresh, healthy and perform like he can. He’s a quality player, so we’ve got to get him out on the park to perform and I think he’ll overcome this injury and get back.”
Ryder, who hasn’t played since round 19 last season, racked up 11 disposals, seven marks and 26 hit-outs at second-tier level and will provide a major boost to the Saints’ hopes of beating Richmond on Sunday.
Ratten stopped short of guaranteeing he would play but said it was “likely”, with a call to be made on whether pre-season signing Jack Hayes keeps his spot.
“We’re going to have a look at it. We had a little bit of an experiment today (at training) with being taller and smaller and we’ll finalise that this afternoon,” he said.
“But it’s going to be touch and go either way.
“Jack’s put his best footxjmtzyw forward and played some really good footy for our footy club and the players love playing with him, so we’ll see how that pans out this afternoon.”
