Defender Brent Reilly has his sights set on pre-season after having successful surgery to repair his injured right shoulder.

Reilly dislocated his shoulder after landing with his arm outstretched in the opening minute of Adelaide’s win over Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium in Round 14. The 29-year-old had season-ending surgery a fortnight ago and said his recovery was going as planned.

“It’s coming along well. I was a in a bit of pain for a week-and-a-half, but it’s starting to come good and I’m sleeping back in bed now – I’ve been on the couch,” Reilly told FIVEaa.

“I snapped a ligament off the bone and had to get it reattached. It’s been a bit frustrating, but it’s all fixed and I’m looking forward to rehab and pre-season.”

Reilly described the injury, which will keep him out of full-contact training for six months, as the “most painful” in his 11-year AFL career.

“I got bumped over. My knees dug into the ground and all my weight went through my shoulder. Something had to give and my shoulder popped out,” Reilly said.

“It took a little bit to get back in, but when Dr Andrew Potter put me down on the bench it fell back into place nicely.”

Since returning to the Club, Reilly has assumed a greater mentoring role with the young Crows defenders and in particular Ricky Henderson, who has taken Reilly’s place in the back six.

Henderson had a career-high 32 possessions and nine marks in Adelaide’s win over Geelong last weekend. The former rookie has averaged 26 possessions and nine marks in his past four games. Reilly, an All-Australian nominee in 2012, said he might find it tough to get his spot back.

“Ricky has been fantastic. I’ve been doing a bit of work with him because he’s basically taken my spot – I might need a pretty good pre-season to get it back,” he said.

“It’s good to see him get reward. He’s been trying to find a spot in the team and has been playing a bit everywhere. He’s a nice kick, has good hands and his skills have been outstanding.

“I sat in the coach’s box on the weekend because I’m doing some work with Darren Milburn and our defenders. I was working with Hendo about how to work with Geelong’s plus one and I thought he did a great job of that on the weekend.

“All our young defenders have been impressive. They’ve really stood up and showed some great leadership and communication skills.

Reilly also praised the Crows onball brigade, who won the midfield battle against the star-studded Cats without the injured Patrick Dangerfield and All Australian Scott Thompson, who was substituted in the third quarter.

“Brad Crouch was outstanding on the weekend and Bernie Vince got more of a chance to play in the midfield. I haven’t seen Richard Douglas play better footy since he’s been at the Club and the way Sloaney is going about it is outstanding too,” Reilly said.

“Those boys were really good on the weekend and you chuck in Jarryd Lyons, who is getting a sniff of AFL, and VB. The boys are working hard. Maybe, it’s the midfield of the future.

“Thommo, like myself, has probably only got a couple of years left. You put Danger back into that mix and we’ve got a pretty potent midfield.”