Moran had a dissolving artificial ligament inserted into his left knee in a bid to speed up the recovery process, after tearing his posterior cruciate ligament in June last year.
The 23-year-old tried desperately to get back for the club’s finals campaign, but his haste led to complications and he was forced to have a second operation on his knee in December.
He failed to progress to full training during the pre-season and was sent to see a specialist in March who decided that more surgery was the best course of action.
Moran only tossed away his crutches last week and is expected to take a cautious approach to his rehabilitation this time around.
He has been placed on the club’s long-term injury list and physical performance manager Stephen Schwerdt said it was impossible to predict when Moran would return to the field.
“It’s a bit of an unknown with Brad. We’ll have to wait and see how he comes up towards the latter-part of the season,” Schwerdt told afl.com.au.
“We definitely haven’t ruled him out, but we need to make sure he has no setbacks during his rehab and that it all goes smoothly. That’s the main agenda at the moment.”
Symes has also had multiple surgeries on a knee injury dating back to last year.
The 25-year-old developed knee soreness in the latter part of the season and was booked in for a routine arthroscopy after the club’s semi-final loss to Collingwood.
He was eased back into full training, but went in for a second procedure in December after tweaking his knee in the weights room.
Symes said it had been tough sweating it out in rehab only to end up back in the same place six weeks later.
“The problem with knee injuries is that once a bit of cartilage tears it’s not like a ligament, which repairs itself. It just doesn’t come back, so every time you tear a bit you’re prone to tearing a little bit more and I think that’s what’s happened with me,” Symes said.
“Each time I’ve come back and done a bit on my knee, I’ve torn a little bit more away and had to go back in, have it cleaned out and start all over again.”
Symes has recovered well from his most recent surgery in March and said he expected to return to full training over the next fortnight.
“It’s been beneficial just spending an extra three or four weeks off the leg rather than trying to rush back,” he said.
“I had a good run on it on Wednesday. I had a fair bit of a kick and a sprint and am probably back up to around 80-90 per cent.
"(SANFL club) Centrals District have the bye in round eight and I was kind of aiming for around that time, so we’ll wait for round nine and I’ll play that week for Centrals.”
Symes and Moran have spent the past six months in rehab together, sharing everything from ice-baths to a bout of whooping cough.
Symes said Moran was in good spirits, but realistic about his chances of lining up for the Crows this season.
“Brad’s a little bit happier with life being able to walk around on two legs again, but he’s got a fair bit of rehab to do before he can build back up and get back into it,” Symes said.
