ADELAIDE coach Neil Craig believes his squad's injury predicament could turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

The Crows are facing the prospect of going into the home and away season without as many as six first-choice players including Jason Porplyzia (pelvis), Brett Burton (knee), Chris Knights (foot), Nathan van Berlo (back), Brad Symes (knee) and Brad Moran (knee).

However, the injury toll has created opportunities for less experienced players Rory Sloane, Myke Cook, Jack Gunston and Shaun McKernan, and Craig said the fast-tracking of youth could prove beneficial for the club in the later stages of the season.

"We're up against it, but we've got 22 minor round games to go and two NAB Cup games. Does it mean we're not concerned with our injury list? No, it doesn't mean that at all, but I'd be more concerned if we were two weeks out from the finals and we were trying to win a final," Craig said on Friday.

"I can't worry about van Berlo or Porplyzia because the reality is that they can't help us at the moment. I need to concentrate on Jack Gunston, Rory Sloane, Will Young, Chris Schmidt, Shaun McKernan, Ricky Henderson and Myke Cook. We need to make them as good as we possibly can, so that when Nathan van Berlo is ready to play he can't get back in our side.

"We need to keep developing our squad because at some stage [with] what we're going through at the moment, we'll look back and say it was a positive for our footy club."

Adelaide finally received some good news on the injury front on Friday, with van Berlo completing his second training session since a minor procedure to alleviate pain in his back.

Burton ramped up his recovery from knee surgery by running laps of the oval.

Craig said Burton, Knights and James Sellar (broken hand) all remained hopeful of lining up against Fremantle in round one.

"Brett Burton ran for the first time today since he had his operation, which is encouraging. He's sort of aiming to be available for round one, but we'll be careful with how far we push him," he said.

"I spoke to Chris this morning for a long period of time and his foot is feeling really good. He's still got round one in his mind ... but that will be a weekly question with both of those guys as well as Jason Porplyzia."

On the downside, Symes and Moran have both been ruled out of the game.

Symes has had a third operation on his injured knee, where surgeons discovered further damage to the surface of the joint.

The club has refused to put a timeframe on the midfielder's return, but it's expected he'll miss more than a month of football.

Moran will have an arthroscopy on Friday afternoon and is likely to be sidelined indefinitely.

Craig also revealed Thompson and Kurt Tippett would be excused from the club's final session of the week for the duration of the season.

Both players have battled leg tendonitis in recent years and Craig said it was a precautionary measure not to let the pair train or play two days in a row.

"It's the advice we've had from the medical people. It's our last training session for the week, so from one day [to playing] the next is what we’ve got to be careful with those guys," he said.

"As long as they're fit and healthy and in good touch I'm comfortable with that. You've seen what we do in our last session. It's minimal."