IT will be at least 10 weeks until Crows defender Daniel Talia can return to full training after he underwent knee surgery this week.

The club announced on Thursday that Talia’s surgery had been successful in repairing a damaged lateral meniscus in his left knee, after he aggravated an old injury in what the club called an “innocuous incident at home”.

The Adelaide Football Club’s website quoted Crows general manager of high performance, Matt Hass, as saying the defender was expected to be back in full training in about 10 to 12 weeks.

That places him returning to full training at the end of February, only a month before the Crows’ first game of the 2019 season on Saturday, March 23.

Talia is expected to play.

media_camera Daniel Talia of the Crows will miss the next 10 weeks of training with a knee injury. . Picture: Getty Images

“We are hopeful it progresses as we expect and he would be available for round one,” Hass said.

“Daniel is one of the most diligent trainers and will do all he can to be back as soon as possible.”

In other injury news, Hass said Brad Crouch, who missed the entire 2018 season with a groin injury, was tracking well after undergoing groin surgery in June.

Hass said Crouch had returned to West Lakes ahead of schedule to join the Club’s first-to-fourth year players last month.

“Brad performed well in the time trial,” Hass said.

“Given his lack of training and playing continuity over the last 12 months, we’ll monitor his loads very closely as he builds towards full training loads before Christmas.”

Midfielder Jordan Gallucci completed his first on-ground run last week since coming back from a toe injury and David Mackay is also on modified loads as he recovers from Achilles surgery.

Hass said both Gallucci and Mackay were ahead of schedule will their rehabilitation.

A broken ankle during the year has put recruit Kieran Strachan also on a modified program.

“(Kieran) had quite a significant broken ankle that required surgery earlier this year so we’ll keep him out of highly contested drills until the new year,” Hass said.

Kyle Hartigan (knees) and Andrew McPherson (groin) will continue their rehabilitation programs into the new year.

Originally published as Knee surgery keeps Talia off full training for 10-12 weeks