Adelaide defender Josh Worrell is in line to play his first game of the season this weekend after recovering from a hamstring injury.

Worrell has been sidelined since the practice game against Fremantle in Perth and has since completed a mini pre-season in preparation for his return to football.

“He’s been pretty much running ever since but given it was a repeat hamstring injury we decided to take a little bit longer to get his fitness base up and some good exposure to training loads,” High Performance Manager Darren Burgess said.

“He’s been training with the group for a little while now and he’s ready to go this weekend so it’s exciting for him and for us.

“He’s very much an AFL player now, his professionalism is outstanding and he knows what is required to perform at the level and his form over pre-season was unbelievable so we’re all pretty excited to get him back.”

Draftee Hugh Bond remains sidelined with a knee fracture and is yet to resume running.

“Bondy is our only out this week,” Burgess said.

“He’s doing a lot of hard work off legs, he’s an excellent trainer, but we’re going to have to wait a couple more weeks to get him running.

“We’re not too sure how long he’ll be out for but it will be at least a few weeks.”

Injury list as of Tuesday, April 18:

Hugh Bond (knee) TBC