THE CROWS are hopeful of regaining superstar Andrew McLeod in time for the club’s round-15 clash with Collingwood at the MCG.

The 2007 club champion, who underwent arthroscopic surgery on Tuesday night, has already been ruled out of next Friday night’s home game against reigning premier Geelong and coach Neil Craig said the procedure was more involved than first thought.

“His knee hasn’t blown up, so probably the best scenario would be for Andrew to play against Collingwood,” Craig said after training on Friday.

“If it’s not that game, we’ll have to take it week after week.

"They [the surgeons] did a few more things in there than we thought, but from a long-term perspective and given the timing, it was probably the best thing to happen; to clean the knee out and to enable him to come back, hopefully, pain-free.”

McLeod was one of a handful of players to sit out Friday’s training session at St Michael’s College.

Simon Goodwin, Nathan van Berlo and Richard Douglas were all rested, as were names like Brad Symes, Brad Moran and Taylor Walker, who will all play in the SANFL this weekend.

The Crows made up training numbers with several St Michael’s students, including under-18 state representatives Matthew Broadbent and Travis Lane.

Trent Hentschel, who sprained his ankle playing for Woodville-West Torrens last weekend, also missed training, but Craig said the news was good for the returning forward.

“It looks like Trent’s ankle isn’t as bad as first thought. He’s not going to play this week, but hopefully he’ll be available in the next week or two,” Craig said.

“Even if it’s a two or three-week injury, he was that close to playing AFL footy [it doesn’t end his season]. It’s a setback for him obviously, but certainly his season in the AFL is very much alive.

“From a selection point of view, he’s very much in my thinking.”

The Crows will train on Sunday morning, before beginning preparation for the match with Geelong. Craig said he would know “a lot more” about his fifth-placed team after the next month with games against Geelong, Collingwood, Port Adelaide and the Sydney Swans.

“It’s been an interesting year so far where there was probably, initially, very little expectation. Now there is some more expectation around and it’s good for our playing group to have to experience that,” he said.

“People will ask; ‘well why didn’t we win that game’, or ‘what’s going on?’ We welcome that. Obviously, our draw in the next few weeks, particularly up against Geelong, Collingwood, Port Adelaide and Sydney [is tough]. Just in that block of games we’ll find out a lot more.

“I thought our game against Hawthorn had some merit in it, but in the end, you’re playing for four points.

"The game against the Brisbane Lions, particularly after half time, was not what we wanted and we’ll get challenged again in the next few weeks.”