Adelaide will play three first-gamers in Saturday’s round one clash with Collingwood at the MCG.

Myke Cook, Jared Petrenko and Taylor Walker are set to become the 163rd, 164th and 165th Crows footballers after today being named in the 22 for the season-opener.

The return of Trent Hentschel for his first official AFL game since wrecking a knee in August 2006 is another highlight of this week’s team selection.

Adelaide also named team leaders Ben Rutten and Nathan van Berlo – available after recovering from leg injuries - plus Jason Porplyzia, who had a shoulder reconstruction at the end of last season. 

Andy Otten and Patrick Dangerfield, who played two AFL games last season in their first year with the club, are also in the new-look team.

On the debit side, midfielder Scott Thompson was last night ruled out to rest a sore hamstring.

Adelaide has not had three players make their AFL debut in the same game since round one of 2001, when Hayden Skipworth, Chris Ladhams and Matthew Shir played against Sydney.

The three newest Crows have travelled different paths to the AFL.

Cook, 19, was drafted from Victorian under-18 club Sandringham with the No 38 pick at the 2007 National Draft. But he was a Crows supporter, having spent some of his school years living in Adelaide.

His first season at West Lakes proved frustrating, however, as an early season hamstring problem kept him off the field for months and he did not make his SANFL league debut with South Adelaide until the last round of the season.

Petrenko, from SANFL club Woodville-Torrens, was overlooked at the 2007 Draft while recovering from a shoulder reconstruction but was then claimed by the Crows in the rookie draft. The speedy 19-year-old was then upgraded to the senior list at the end of last season.

And it is nearly three years since Taylor Walker was signed by the Crows as their first New South Wales Scholarship player. The Broken Hill recruit, who turns 19 on April 25, was added to the senior list at the end of 2007 and made his SANFL league debut last year with Norwood.

Saturday’s line-up will have eight changes compared to the last Adelaide team which played Collingwood in the elimination final at AAMI Stadium. Missing from that game are Nathan Bassett, Nick Gill, Graham Johncock, Kris Massie, Brad Moran, Brad Symes, Robert Shirley and Thompson.

The additions are Brent Reilly, Porplyzia, Hentschel, Otten, Dangerfield, Cook, Petrenko and Walker.

Adelaide trains at Max Basheer Reserve from 10am on Friday before flying to Melbourne.

The team is:

B: Doughty (11), Rutten (25), Otten (22)
HB: Reilly (3), Bock (44), McLeod (23)
C: Cook (8), Goodwin (36), Knights (21)
HF: Douglas (26), Hentschel (37), Mackay (14)
F: Walker (13), Tippett (4), Porplyzia (40)
R: Maric (20), Vince (17), Edwards (9)
I/c: van Berlo (7), Stevens (27), Dangerfield (32), Petrenko (33)
Emerg: Griffin (6), Jacky (10), Shirley (12)