Nearly 20 months after suffering a horrific knee injury against Port Adelaide in Showdown XXI late in the 2006 season, Hentschel on Thursday resumed full competitive training during the club’s main session at AAMI Stadium.
Hentschel has been training with the main group for more than a month, but prior to Thursday had been forced to sit out most of the competitive drills.
“I’ve had a gradual build-up over the past few weeks, doing more and more things like jumping into ruck bags and marking contests,” he told afc.com.au.
“But from today the plan is to do everything the other players are doing, like the tackling drills, and to be treated like any other player, so that’s really exciting.
“I’ve gained lots of confidence in the past few sessions but I suppose this is the next step. And if everything goes well for the next couple of weeks I hope to be ready to play in the SANFL (for Woodville-West Torrens) in a couple of weeks.”
Defender Kris Massie said Hentschel’s recovery from an injury initially feared to be career threatening was a “testament” to the 25-year-old’s character.
“It’s been a real hard time for Trent, to state the obvious, but there’s no doubt he has grown a lot through his experience in rehab,” Massie said.
“I think he’s shown a lot of resilience. At times he really could’ve walked around feeling sorry for himself, but the way I’ve seen him go about it has been great.
“My respect for him has just grown.
“To see him out on the track today gives you a real lift and speaking on behalf of the whole playing group there’s no doubt all the guys would feel that.
“We’re really looking forward to him taking the field. I heard whispers, early on especially, that he may not be able to play or train again, but there was no doubt in my mind that he would.”
Hentschel, who had his right knee protected by a brace, went head-to-head with full-back Ben Rutten during the two-hour training session and didn’t hesitate to throw himself into the contest.
“Neil [Craig] highlighted before training that we shouldn’t hold back on Trent when he’s out there,” Massie said.
“In a three-man weave drill Trent had one of the tackle bags and he said ‘Don’t hold back guys, just let it out’.
“He was just another one of the guys training and it was terrific to see him out there.”
