With two pre-season games under his belt at the Swans and a strong showing against St Kilda on Saturday night, the former West Coast premiership player said he relished the chance to again play a key role at the highest level.
After 97 games in the previous five seasons, Seaby played just five games at the Eagles in 2009.
The emergence of boom youngster Nic Naitanui and the continued good form of Dean Cox limited his opportunities in the ruck and he conceded his self-belief had taken a battering.
“There weren’t really doubts in my mind but my confidence was definitely down a bit," he said. "I feel like I’m starting to regain a bit of that now and I can go at the highest level again, because it has been a while since I’ve had a game.
“Last year was pretty frustrating but I’ve put that behind me now and I look forward to doing the best I can this year.”
Seaby racked up a solid 15 possessions to go with 14 hit-outs in the Swans’ one-point NAB Cup loss to the Saints, but it was his solitary goal that provided the biggest talking point.
After being awarded a 50m penalty in the third term, Seaby could have taken a set shot from 15m for a nine-point super goal but instead he chose to play on across the vacant mark.
The subsequent goal was worth just six points - a three-point loss that ultimately could have changed the result of the game.
Seaby said his decision to play on was simply “natural instinct” and despite the inevitable post-game ribbing from his teammates, he said they would have backed his decision in a premiership season match.
“Fortunately… the boys said when it comes to the main season, that’s probably the right thing to do,” he said.
Seaby and his ruck partner, former Geelong rookie Shane Mumford, broke even with St Kilda pair Steven King and Ben McEvoy on Saturday night, and the former Eagle was more effective around the ground than the ex-Cat.
However, Seaby dismissed suggestions he was set to take over the No.1 ruck role at the Swans and said he and Mumford would likely share the job.
“We obviously compete really hard at training which is really healthy for us both but I don’t think we’re necessarily competing for the No.1 spot,” Seaby said at the Swans’ recovery session on Monday.
“Even talking with Paul Roos, he said he wants us both playing the best footy we can and having the biggest impact we can both have for the team.
“Obviously we’ve trained a fair bit against each other but we’ve never really played together in the same team.
“I’m looking forward to the next two games leading into round one to play with him, hopefully learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses and learning how we can complement each other.”
