STAR midfielder Dan Hannebery has bounced back from his Grand Final knee injury to blitz the field in Sydney's time trial on Monday.
Hannebery suffered a significant medial ligament strain in the last quarter of the Swans' loss to the Western Bulldogs, but showed no signs of the problem when he took out the club's 3km run on his first official day back at training.
With the entire playing group now back from their off-season break, young onballers Jordan Foote and Harry Cunningham filled the placings, but finished well behind Hannebery.
Swans coach John Longmire said the three-time All Australian couldn't run for more than a month after the Grand Final, so his effort was outstanding.
"He's in fantastic condition considering he had a really bad knee injury coming out of the Grand Final," he said.
"His off-season and recovery was certainly hampered by that, so to run as well as he did is a real credit to him, he's a real pro.
"He didn't have any surgery but he knows how to prepare (himself), and you can see that by his performance."
Along with Hannebery, best and fairest winner Josh Kennedy, co-captain Kieren Jack, and All Australian defender Dane Rampe all looked in peak physical condition, with young star Isaac Heeney relishing some strength and conditioning work away from the main group.
This year's Brownlow Medal runner-up Luke Parker is on a limited program after injuring his knee in the Swans' preliminary final win over Geelong, while star forward Lance Franklin and ruckman Sam Naismith are recovering from shoulder surgery.
Longmire will have his list together for just three weeks before the Christmas break, but while he expects most of his stars to be back on the track full time in January, their return to the field may take longer.
"We're not sure about the start of the pre-season competition in February, but we expect everybody to be right for the start of the season (proper)," he said.
"That means they'll have had a couple of games prior to that.
"That'll start to evolve when we get back in January with some of the blokes that are a bit behind in their schedule, but most of them are in pretty good nick.
"It's just a few that a getting over their niggles from the end of the year that'll be a bit slower, but that usually happens most years anyway."
Pre-season begins for our senior boys. #ProudlySydney pic.twitter.com/ob4cPDZzSO
— Sydney Swans (@sydneyswans) December 4, 2016
Forgotten forward Sam Reid moved well in hot and humid conditions and looks to have finally overcome his injury struggles, with the 24-year-old failing to play a senior game in 2016 thanks to persistent calf and Achilles issues.
Longmire said he's confident the versatile key position player can be a big factor for his side next season.
"He's come back in great nick, he's done absolutely everything (at training), and he looks fantastic," he said.