Crouch will miss the entire pre-season series and is unlikely to play in the Crows’ round one clash against Greater Western Sydney at the Adelaide Oval on March 26.

The 23-year-old signed a four-year contract extension with Adelaide last year as the club moved to lock down key young talent.

His career has been blighted by injuries which have restricted him to 41 games in four seasons and never allowed him a full pre-season.

“Given Brad’s injury history and young age we won’t rush his return,” Adelaide’s high performance manager Matt Hass said.

“He won’t play in the pre-season competition as he recovers and we build up his training loads to match level.

“We expect Brad to make a full recovery and be an important player for the club this season.”

Meanwhile, veteran onballer Scott Thompson is continuing his recovery from a shoulder injury.

“Fortunately for Thommo it’s an upper body injury which means he hasn’t lost any conditioning,” Hass said.

“We will continue to build the strength up around his shoulder and look to re-introduce him to competitive work in the next few weeks.”

-AAP