And it can’t come quickly enough for the Irish-born star.
“They've put me in a bit of cotton wool I suppose with Nick Malceski getting injured, but I feel great,” Kennelly said.
“I'm raring to go.”
The 27-year-old is hopeful of completing more than an hour of game time against the Brisbane Lions at Manuka Oval.
It will be the Swans last real hit-out before the season proper, a fact not lost on the premiership half-back.
“If I'm only playing 70 minutes then definitely something you want to do is work on your intensity,” Kennelly said.
“I’ll probably play 20 minutes a quarter for the first three quarters.” The return of Kennelly takes on critical importance to the Swans given Malceski's untimely, severe knee injury.
And the 2005 premiership star was in little doubt as to just how vital defensive run from himself and new recruit Marty Mattner would be for the Swans.
“I was watching the Hawthorn game [in the NAB Cup] and Nick and Marty were flying and I was thinking: 'Oh god, I can't wait to get out there',” he said.
“It was going to be really hard to stop us.”
Kennelly faced knee surgery at the end of the 2007 season which led to a frustrating six months. But judging by his wide smile today, it's all been worth it.
“It's now actually better, if not stronger, than before I got injured,” Kennelly said.
“I've done a lot of handball games and tackling to get my confidence up and now I'm raring to go - [I’ll] definitely be ready for round one.”
His knee troubles kept him to just 13 games in 2007, many of them played under obvious duress.
“Last year was frustrating because I played a lot of games when I was only maybe 75 per cent fit,” Kennelly said.
“The first five or six rounds of the season I was flying and when you look at yourself when you're injured there was a massive change in my game.”
The form of fellow Irishman and recent Gaelic recruit Brendan Murphy has also raised the spirits of Kennelly.
“His kicking has been unbelievable and he's got an engine on him,” Kennelly said.
But asked whether he could be as good as the great Tadhg, Kennelly joked: “I hope not!”
