Brad Crouch getting the job done in the SANFL. Picture: Roger Wyman.

BRAD Crouch will get an unexpected early chance to prove he belongs at AFL level after a training mishap opened the door for his inclusion against North Melbourne at Adelaide Oval Thursday night.

Highly-rated midfielder Crouch, who has played just four AFL matches this season because of injury and form issues, has come into the Crows side for wingman Paul Seedsman, who strained a hamstring at training this week.

Seedsman, who has played all 12 matches and averaged 18 disposals for Adelaide this season after crossing from Collingwood, will miss two-to-three games with a hamstring injury considered to be “at the minor end of the scale’’.

Crouch, 22, returns after dominating three consecutive SANFL matches.

“It’s great for Brad,’’ Crows assistant coach Matthew Clarke said. “He came back in (to the AFL in round seven) perhaps a little underdone so we were pretty conscious to give him a really good run at it this time around and he’s done everything right.

“His conditioning is in exactly the space that it needs to be and we’re really confident that he’ll perform well.

“His form over the past month has been really good, not just what he’s done on game day but also his training form has been really sound as well.’’

Crouch for Seedsman is the only change to the Adelaide team that came from behind to beat West Coast in Perth before its bye week.

Ricky Henderson, Wayne Milera and Andy Otten are on the Crows’ emergency list.

The Kangaroos have regained midfielders Andrew Swallow and Ben Cunnington from injury but have lost key playmaker Daniel Wells (calf) and long-kicking defender Luke McDonald (hamstring).

Leading goalkicker Jarrad Waite will miss his second consecutive game after failing to recover from the hip injury which kept him out of last week’s loss to Hawthorn.