Heeney hits the ground running

IF Isaac Heeney can have the season he did last year battling the after-effects of glandular fever, imagine what the dynamic forward can do with a clean bill of health.

The Novocastrian’s 2017 season only started in Round 5 after he became ill in February.

While he was able to play out matches, even late in the year Heeney was still having to manage his workloads to ensure he did not suffer a recurrence.

“Glandular fever can hang around,” he said.

“It’s something you have to keep an eye on by watching your diet, your sleep patterns and your workload.

“If you aren’t careful it can turn into chronic fatigue syndrome.

“People have been known to be out for 12 months with that.”

Judging by the 21-year-old’s performance on the training track, those lingering effects have gone. Heeney has been among the pace setters of the Swans’ pre-season.

“It’s nice not feeling those after-effects,” he said.

“It’s a hard time of the year but a good one, too.

“Getting a full pre-season in is my priority, you test yourself two or three times per week running against each other.

“It will be good to maintain my health and mature a bit in the way I look after it.”

Heeney’s absence at the start of the season along with Dane Rampe and Jarrad McVeigh were contributing factors to Sydney’s 0-6 start, its worst in 23 years.

“We want to start off a lot better than last year,” he said.

“It was a roller-coaster year. To come back from 0-6 and play finals was an amazing effort.”