Dan Hannebery says he will head into this year's finals series in much better shape than last season as a result of an ankle injury which floored the star midfielder while he was in top flight.
The injury, which sidelined Hannebery for six games, will almost certainly cost him back-to-back All Australian selection but should ensure Sydney's midfield running machine hits September with plenty of petrol left in the tank.
This was not the case last year for Hannebery, whose form tailed off in the latter stages of 2013 after a stellar start which saw him lead the Brownlow count approaching the halfway point of the year.
"I certainly feel fresh mentally and physically, I felt great on the weekend, a lot fresher than I did feel last year," Hannebery said.
"That's something I did notice on the weekend, I felt full of run and something that probably towards the back end of last year, I was feeling a little bit tired, so that's probably a small positive in the injury," Hannebery said.
"It gives you an opportunity to probably train twice as hard, because you can train every day of the week , albeit off legs.
"You feel like you're probably training a little bit harder because obviously during the season you get bumps and bruises and you can't train in the week so small positives out of a negative, I suppose."
Although Hannebery took longer than expected to come back, his return a fortnight ago meant he had four games to regain form and match fitness before the Swans' finals campaign.
Hannebery said that would be more than enough time to prepare himself physically and mentally for the finals.
Encouragingly for the Swans, Hannebery said he is not feeling any ill effects from his ankle syndesmosis injury.
"It's feeling really good, obviously it took a little bit longer to get going and that was probably precautionary knowing there was finals footy to come," Hannebery said.
"I'm feeling really confident on it now, I was a bit concerned it was taking a bit longer than I thought, but now it's 100 per cent .
"It was only six or seven weeks out which was certainly challenging but certainly a lot of guys at our footy club have gone through a lot worse than that."
"And now I'm rapt that I'm back out there an playing a few games of footy again."
Tagged by Kane Cornes in his comeback game, Hannebery managed only 13 possessions against Port Adelaide but improved markedly last week, collecting 26 disposals against St Kilda.
But Hannebery said he is still building towards the run of form he had leading up to his injury when he averaged nearly 32 possessions for seven weeks.
That hot streak came after he was publicly criticised following a slow start to the year for player and club.
"It's something that motivates you to turn that around and let your footy do the talking," Hannebery said.
Fitness concerns remain over several of his premiership teammates for this week's game against the Western Bulldogs.
Josh Kennedy did not train with the Swans' main group on Wednesday, lengthening the odds on him continuing his streak of 127 consecutive games, and took part in only light skill work.
Sam Reid also trained separately and is no certainty to face the Western Bulldogs.
There is also doubt on the availability of Rhyce Shaw, who was limited to running drills and did not test his injured ankle in ball work.
But Nick Smith joined in full training and looms as a likely return.
