UNLUCKY Adelaide forward Trent Hentschel has been dealt another blow in his comeback from injury with the news he’ll require more surgery on his troublesome knee.

Hentschel, 26, was forced from the training track on Wednesday after experiencing swelling in the same knee he injured against Port Adelaide way back in 2006.

The cunning forward fought back to play the opening two games of this season after missing all of 2007 and 2008, but developed similar swelling in the round-two loss to St Kilda, and underwent an arthroscopy.

At that stage, the surgeon was unable to determine the cause of the problem because of residual blood in the joint.

But on Friday, coach Neil Craig said the club was confident another arthroscopy on Monday—which will keep Hentschel sidelined for between a month to six weeks—will deliver more success.

“It’s disappointing for Trent, but it’s not all lost,” Craig said.

“It’s not structural thing, as such, but when he really ups the ante he gets a bit of bleeding in there. The surgeons are reasonably confident that they can still help him, so we’ll keep pushing on with it.”

Hentschel cast a forlorn figure when he left AAMI Stadium on Wednesday, but Craig said he had handled the latest setback well.

“Trent was disappointed Wednesday when he had to come off from training, but I saw him this morning and he’s ready to go, start again and see if he can get back in the next four-six weeks.”

The outcome looks significantly brighter for star trio Simon Goodwin, Andrew McLeod and Tyson Edwards.

On Wednesday McLeod, who will break the Crows’ games record this week, said he could envisage all three 32-year-olds playing on next season.

Craig said the club’s decision would be based on the veterans’ form in the second half of the season, but couldn’t see a reason why the trio wouldn’t be around in 2010.

“They’ve [McLeod, Goodwin and Edwards] been really high quality players at the Adelaide Football Club and champions of AFL footy,” Craig said.

“If their form continues the way it’s going, why wouldn’t they continue to play?

“But the game gets you at some stage; things don’t just keep rolling on for the rest of our lives and they’re aware of that because they’ve seen it enough times with senior guys at our footy club.

“But at the moment, I couldn’t be happier with what the three of them are doing.”

Hentschel has only played 63 matches for Adelaide since his 2003 debut.