Adelaide Assistant Coach Jack Hombsch says the Crows have plenty of forward-line depth  to help cover the loss of Riley Thilthorpe.

Thilthorpe will have surgery on his knee this week, with scans revealing he had damaged his meniscus after landing awkwardly in the Crows’ Community Series match against West Coast on Saturday.

The Club will be in a better position to determine a return date for Thilthorpe post-surgery and speaking to the media on Monday, Hombsch says although disappointing to lose the forward for the start of the season, there are players who can step up and fill the void.

“A lot has been said of how good a pre-season he (Thilthorpe) has had, he’s been in really good form and he’s a big focal point for us,” Hombsch said.

“Hopefully it is not too serious, if it’s not he’ll be back playing, if it is, we’ll deal with the next steps, but there’s a few guys putting their hand up (and) I think we’ve got a lot of depth there.

“We brought Chris Burgess over from Gold Coast last year, who can certainly play that role and Lachie Gollant, he’s chomping at the bit to have a crack as well.

“Those guys are certainly ready to go and we’ve got a lot of faith in those boys to come in and play their role.”

Hombsch confirmed Elliott Himmelberg had returned to training with the Crows’ defenders and that Mark Keane was recovering well from concussion.

“We are still a couple of weeks away from Round One, but we are really comfortable with him (Himmelberg) and the work he is doing down back,” Hombsch said.

“He’s just coming back from a hamstring injury last year and he’s settling in nicely in that backline, so we are pretty happy with him down that end of the ground at the moment.

“(Keane) is travelling pretty well, he’s back out there running around and he’s progressing through the steps.

“We are (also) really happy with what Buttsy did on the weekend and James Borlase has had a really strong pre-season.”