ADELAIDE coach Neil Craig says comeback kid Trent Hentschel has done enough to warrant a contract for next season.

Hentschel, 26, made his long-awaited return from a horrific knee injury against Collingwood in round one.

But doubts over his immediate playing future re-surfaced a week later when he was booked in for a fourth operation on his reconstructed knee.

The resilient forward worked his way back through the local league and made a stunning return to the AFL in round 20 kicking four goals in Adelaide’s win over Hawthorn.

He played out the season with the Crows and is expected to be offered a new one-year deal for 2010.

Craig said the goalkicker had been one of the “individual success stories” of the year.

“I think Trent has taken another step in where he needs to go,” Craig said.

“The fact that he was able to put some games together and also play in finals was a bonus. I’ve spoken to Trent about [the finals] and asked him if there was anything in the two finals that, as a player, he thought he might struggle with. He was pretty clear in his mind that there was nothing there.

“I can only see Trent Hentschel getting better and better. We keep our fingers crossed that with a legitimate hard pre-season where he can really slaughter himself…well we have great hopes for Trent.”

Hentschel kicked 10 goals in his last five games but it was his work without the ball that impressed forward line coach David Noble.

Hentschel laid a team-high four tackles in the semi-final loss to Collingwood and Noble said the clever forward’s development in the second half of the year had been “amazing”.

“Trent played the first two games of the season and when we sat down and looked at it halfway through the year we thought he’d done really well to get to that point. In saying that, he hadn’t got enough speed and intensity in his game,” Noble said.

“When he came back from his second knee operation his intensity and tackling, as well as his general skills, was back to a level it was at before he got injured in 2006.

“He needed to show us that he was desperate to stay in the AFL system and play footy at our club next year and I think he’s done that.”