Adelaide has named Trent Hentschel in its 29-man squad to prepare for Saturday night’s NAB Cup opener against Geelong Cats at Telstra Stadium.

Hentschel’s likely return from a serious knee injury will be the headline news but the Crows also named the untried Taylor Walker, Jared Petrenko, Rory Sloane, Myke Cook, Aaron Kite and rookie Brodie Martin in the squad, still to be cut to 26.

The squad also includes a number of players with only limited AFL exposure, including Brad Moran (10 AFL games), Jarrhan Jacky (three games), Andy Otten, Patrick Dangerfield and Chris Schmidt (two games) and James Sellar (one game).

Hentschel has not played for the Crows since August 27 2006, when he badly injured his right knee. After missing all of 2007, he returned to football last year and played 10 games at league and reserves level with SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens but was frustrated by hamstring problems.

Adelaide trains on Friday morning from 10am at Max Basheer Reserve.

The squad is: Gill, Moran, Reilly, Thompson, Griffin, Edwards, Jacky, Doughty, Shirley, Walker, Mackay, Sloane, Vince, Johncock, Maric, Knights, Otten, McLeod, Stevens, Kite, Sellar, Dangerfield, Petrenko, Cook, Goodwin, Hentschel, Martin, Schmidt, Bock.