CROWS ruckman Ivan Maric believes teammate Brent Reilly is ready for an AFL recall after the onballer performed strongly for SANFL club Sturt on the weekend.

Reilly has been restricted to just six games this season having suffered separate freak wrist and knee injuries, but is poised to make a return to the Crows' line up against Essendon this week.

“I expect Radar [Reilly] to play, but I’m not the coach, so we’ll see what happens,” Maric said on Wednesday.

“I hope he plays. He’s been training well and he’s looking really fit. I think he’s just looking forward to playing footy again."

The news wasn’t as good for injured midfielder Chris Knights. Knights, who strained a hamstring against Carlton in round 18, was given some chance to play this week, but has been ruled out after missing Wednesday’s main training session.

Adelaide has not beaten the Bombers in Victoria from 11 attempts and Maric said the playing group was looking forward to creating history.

“As an Essendon supporter growing up, I used to enjoy that record [against Adelaide],” Maric said with a laugh.

“We spoke a bit about the history, but it doesn’t mean we can’t beat them. We can if we want to and, if we’ve got more desire and determination than them, hopefully we’ll come away with a win.

“I’m always looking for a challenge and something hard to do. I like to train hard and play in hard games, so I’m definitely looking forward to breaking that record.”

As a Bombers fan, one man Maric grew up cheering for was Essendon superstar Matthew Lloyd.

On Saturday, Lloyd will line up for his 250th game and Maric, although ‘happy’ for his childhood hero, was hopeful Adelaide could spoil the party.

“We were up last week with Andrew’s [McLeod] 300th, so I suppose it’s good for playing groups when something like a milestone comes up and I saw Matthew’s mark [of the year contender]; it was not a bad one,” Maric said.

“You look at all players that are in form and it’s good for Matthew that he’s bounced back after copping a fair bit of criticism a couple of months ago. It’s really good for him and you kind of feel happy for those guys.”

Maric, who will go head-to-head with in form Bomber David Hille this week, has starred for the Crows since replacing Jon Griffin as the lead ruckman midway through the season.

After the win over Carlton, coach Neil Craig gave the 22-year-old some of the highest possible praise; saying the former basketballer was someone ‘You’d like to be in the trenches with’.

The strongly built Crow often rallies the midfield group before centre bounces to offer motivation and, in his fourth year on the Adelaide list, said he finally felt like a valued member.

“It was really important for my future that I stepped up and started playing some consistent footy. I really wanted to be a big part of this team and its future. It was a goal of mine, but I didn’t know whether it was going to happen or not,” he said.

“Earlier in the year when Brad Moran and I were both sitting in the stands watching Kurt (Tippett) and Jon Griffin; that makes you more determined to train harder and, when you get the opportunity, it makes you value your position in the side a lot more.

“Since we’ve come in, we’ve made sure the opportunity hasn’t slipped.”