Young midfielder Brad Crouch is one of several Crows progressing well from late/post-season surgery.

Crouch, 21, was limited to only two SANFL games in 2015 because of a foot injury. The 2013 Rising Star runner-up had surgery in August, but discarded the moon boot protecting his left foot over the break and was able to complete some light training.

Adelaide General Manager of High Performance Brett Burton said the eldest Crouch sibling would be eased back into full training.

“Crouchy is progressing well. He’s pain free now,” Burton said.

“He’ll be on a modified program pre-Christmas and then we’ll assess how he’s going then. We look forward to him being available for Round One.”

Ruckman Sam Jacobs (elbow), veteran Nathan van Berlo (shoulder) and emerging onballer Cam Ellis-Yolmen (finger) will be limited to non-contact drills following minor operations.

Burton said the trio would join the main training group in the New Year.

“Sauce (Jacobs) had elbow surgery. He’s tracking along really well with that,” Burton said.

“He’ll be non-contact before Christmas, but will be able to do the ball work and all the running. ‘VB’ had shoulder surgery, so he’ll also be non-contact until after Christmas but his running loads will be fine, and he’ll be available for Round One.

“Cam Ellis-Yolmen had finger surgery. That won’t restrict him from any of the running load. It’ll just be the contact and the ball work, but he’ll be able to complete the majority of the pre-season.”

Defender Matthew Jaensch is six months into his recovery from a knee reconstruction.

Jaensch remains on track to return to the playing field in the first half of the 2016 season.

“Matty Jaensch is going along pretty well in his rehab, working with Duncan Kellaway,” Burton said.

“He’ll be on a modified program for the majority of pre-season, and then we’ll be looking for him to play games around that 12-month mark (May, 2016).

“That will be dictated by his surgeon, so we’ll see how he travels.”

Adelaide’s 1-4 year players will begin training on Monday, November 23.

The remainder of the group will return on Tuesday, December 1.

Trade period recruit Troy Menzel will take part in his first session as a Crow next week.

Menzel had post-season hip surgery, but is close to being back in full training.

“We’re expecting Troy to be in a modified setting for the first few weeks, and then hopefully join in full training through December,” Burton said.

New rookie Hugh Greenwood has been working hard on improving his fitness after retiring from basketball to pursue a career in football in September.

Burton said the talented junior footballer had completed a ‘mini-pre-season’.

“Hugh is going really well. Obviously, it’s a new game for him,” he said.

“He’s been used to basketball and a lot of shorter efforts. We’ve certainly been working on his aerobic capacity. We’re looking forward to him starting pre-season with the group on Monday.”

Fellow Category-B rookie, Alex Keath, has also completed some training at the Club while he continues to concentrate on playing cricket.

Monday’s training session will be new coach Don Pyke’s first in charge.

This pre-season will be much shorter than last year’s, which ran for nearly fourth months as a consequence of the delayed start to the AFL season because of the cricket World Cup, and also Adelaide missing the 2014 finals.

The Crows players will sweat it out for three months this pre-season before the 2016 NAB Challenge gets underway in late-February. Burton, who is also preparing for his first pre-season as head of the Club's High Performance, said the challenge was to get enough work into the players in a shorter period of time.

“It’s an interesting period with a new coach coming onboard. ‘Pykey’ needs to be able to implement his game plan and educate that through the pre-Christmas period,” Burton said.

“It’s a bit of a balancing act, only having the 5+ year players here for three weeks before the Christmas break. The focus is clearly on making sure the game plan becomes engrained.

“We can work within the drills to be able to get the conditioning effect we need, as well as doing some top-up (conditioning) work.”

The 2016 season will see interchanges capped at 90, down from 120 this year, as well as the substitute rule eradicated.

Burton expected clubs to tailor their pre-season programs slightly as a result of the reduced cap.

“It’s a reduction of about 25 per cent and 30 fewer rotations. The impact of that on the game will be that guys will have to stay out on the ground longer until they can get a rotation,” he said.

“Midfielders will probably spend 12-14 minutes (on the ground) each rotation rather than 8-10 minutes (in previous years). Clearly, it’ll make the game more aerobic and players need to be able to sustain their efforts for a longer period.

“The pre-season will change a little, with a bit more of a shift to aerobic capacity but there won’t be massive changes.”