Adelaide forward Riley Knight is concentrating on a return inside the opening fortnight of the home and away season after undergoing minor surgery on his left ankle last week.

Knight will spend the next two weeks off his feet before building up his running, with the recovery process estimated to take around six weeks.

A strong start to the pre-season had Knight ready to build on a strong 2017 campaign in which he played 19 games, including all three finals matches.

He won the Club’s 2km time trial when the first to fourth year player returned to the track in November, and was tracking well across the summer before the injury became apparent.

“I was all good pre-Christmas and then I started to get a little bit of pain over the Christmas break,” he said.

“I came back and started to get a little bit more pain during the sessions.  From there I was a bit modified, and even after the modified sessions I was still feeling pain.”

“Unfortunately we were left with surgery, which was the last option.”

With Round One not far away, Knight knows it could be easy to view his February setback in a negative light.

He’s instead consciously choosing to put his energy into focusing on rehabilitation, aware that his expected recovery time is relatively short-term.

“I just had a little bit of a clean out, I had some scar tissue in there and had some little bursas that I had to have cut out,” he said.

“It’s not a very serious surgery.  It’s a pretty short turnaround hopefully, and I’ll be back on the park soon.”

Knight will join Brodie Smith and captain Taylor Walker in the rehabilitation group, with Smith making convincing progress following an ACL reconstruction in September and Walker eyeing off a Round One return following a plantar fascia strain earlier this month.

He’s looking forward to the company when Smith returns from a break in the United States, with the both players known for their sense of humour.

“(Rehab is) always a bit of a dark place, but it’ll be good having Smithers there, he’s always good for a laugh,” he said.

“He’s already messaged me from overseas saying, ‘I’ve got a buddy now in rehab, which will be good’.

 “The big skipper, he’s going to be a bit of value as well.”

The Crows will play their opening match of the JLT Community Series against Fremantle at Strathalbyn Oval on Sunday, February 25, with their premiership fixture opener against Essendon at Etihad Stadium scheduled for Friday, March 23.

Ticketing information regarding the JLT Community Series can be found here.