ADELAIDE coach Neil Craig says Saturday night’s NAB Cup opener against Geelong is an important stepping stone in Trent Hentschel’s AFL comeback.
Hentschel, 26, has not pulled on the Crows colours since seriously damaging his knee in August of 2006.
The sickening injury was compared to that of a car crash victim and required multiple operations to reconstruct the knee and surrounding bones.
Hentschel fought his way back to play 10 SANFL and reserves games with Woodville-West Torrens last season, but his AFL comeback was derailed by a string of soft tissue strains.
Craig said the club had removed any limitations on the 61-game forward, who will start on the ground against the Cats at Telstra Dome this week.
“It’s an important year for Trent and he couldn’t have done any more than what we’ve asked in the way he’s got back,” Craig said on Friday.
“We’ve been treating him as we should - as any other player - on the training track and we’ll now be treating him as any other player when he puts his hand up to be selected, which he has been.
“It’s still NAB Cup, so there’s an element there of trial game mentality for all teams still, but it’s another important stepping stone for Trent.”
The popular Territorian’s long awaited return to AFL will be music to the ears of both Adelaide players and fans.
But Craig said Hentschel still had to prove he could keep up with the increased speed of the game before being guaranteed a round-one berth.
“We’ve all sat and watched Trent’s rehab. It was a horrendous injury and what we’ve seen over the past 12 months have been little setbacks and continual disappointment for him,” Craig said.
“It’s another step, but the true test will be if the coach has the courage to pick him when there are four points [on offer]. He’s done everything possible and we’re not giving him a game just to find out.
“He’s got that game based on his performance on the training track.”
Hentschel, who kicked 42 goals in 2006, will be part of a new-look Adelaide forward line.
Gone are stalwart Ken McGregor and Luke Jericho and in come promising teenager Taylor Walker, the enigmatic Nick Gill and crumbing small Jarrhan Jacky.
Injured duo Brett Burton (knee) and Jason Porplyzia (shoulder) will also be missing from the line-up.
Craig said he would use the pre-season competition to try and settle his front six.
“There will be a lot of different names and faces going through there and you could argue, at the end of the game, that maybe it was a bit unsettled,” he said.
“But we need to make sure that we not only look at individuals up there, but the next step is to look at combinations of those individuals. Can Walker, Gill and Hentschel play together up there?
“They’ll be the sorts of things we need to find out in the next four weeks.”
