Friday, 18 October 2019:

DAN HANNEBERY of the Swans handballs during the AFL match between the Sydney Swans and the Essendon Bombers at SCG in Sydney, Australia.

Star St Kilda midfielder Dan Hannebery will have a late start to pre-season training after breaking a bone in his right foot in a fall down some stairs.

The 28-year-old will require surgery to repair a fractured metatarsal after rolling his ankle in an innocuous incident involving outdoor steps at his sister's house in Perth.

Hannebery was plagued by soft-tissue injuries after joining the Saints for the 2019 season and only played the first of his five games this year in round 14.

But in a small silver lining for the club, the timing of the mishap means the six-week recovery period will disrupt Hannebery's holiday plans more than his preparation for the 2020 season.

"It's never a good time to suffer an injury but, given Dan's recovery will predominantly take place while on leave, we don't expect his pre-season to be impacted greatly," Saints football boss Simon Lethlean said.

"Our team of physios and strength and conditioning guys were keen to manage Dan's workload prior to the Christmas break and their program will now be pushed back two to three weeks.

"He should be running at the start of December and training with the main group shortly after."

Hannebery's accident comes on the heels of a resoundingly positive trade period for St Kilda, who have landed Bradley Hill (Fremantle), Paddy Ryder and Dougal Howard (Port Adelaide), Dan Butler (Richmond) and Zak Jones (Sydney).

Stalwarts Josh Bruce (Western Bulldogs), Jack Steven (Geelong) and Blake Acres (Fremantle) were traded out.

The Saints also announced on Friday that Brandon White, Bailey Rice and Robbie Young would be delisted, joining David Armitage, Sam Rowe, Billy Longer and Lewis Pierce in departing the club.

AAP