Kyle Hartigan’s teammates get stuck in to him for having shots at goal after training with the forwards, midfielders and more attacking types in the Crows squad.

In his first 44 AFL games, Hartigan never even found himself with a legitimate scoring opportunity. The key defender’s score sheet read 0.0 (0).

That changed at Adelaide Oval on Sunday night.

Hartigan took a mark in the middle of the ground halfway through the third quarter. The 24-year-old was put into scoring range when Essendon forward Orazio Fantasia was penalised with a 50m penalty for hanging onto Hartigan after the contest.

Hartigan went back, lined up and pierced the middle of the goals with his shot from about 40 metres out.

“I practice them all the time at training and the boys take the piss out of me a little bit,” Hartigan said after the game.

“I always say, ‘You never know when you might need it!’

“Fair to say, I was pretty nervous. I was just hoping that it would go through. Luckily, I hit it pretty nicely and it went through the middle.

“It was awesome.”

Every Adelaide player on the ground at the time ran to celebrate with the former rookie. 

Hartigan also received a rousing applause from the 44,000 fans in attendance when it was announced  that the goal was his first in the AFL.

Hartigan was overwhelmed by the reaction of his teammates.

“It was amazing. I can’t explain the feeling. It was pretty special,” he said.

Hartigan was cast in the unlikely role of a forward and back-up ruckman in the second half on Sunday.

Goalkicker Josh Jenkins was forced to assume the majority of the ruck duties after Sam Jacobs injured his ankle.

The move of Jenkins into the middle of the ground left the Crows, who were also without injured skipper Taylor Walker, one tall target short inside forward 50m.

Coach Don Pyke and his assistants debated how to plug the hole in attack, and settled on Hartigan as their ‘swingman’.

“Pykey came to me at half time and said, ‘We need you to go and give ‘JJ’ (Jenkins) a spell in the ruck … give the boys a chop out up forward, and just make a contest. 

"I tried to do that the best I could.

“Luckily enough, I got to snag one.”

It was the first time since 2013 and first time ever at AFL level that Hartigan has moved out of defence.

“In my first year at the footy club when I was playing at South Adelaide, there was a game out at Norwood and I played a bit of forward/ruck that day as well because our ruckman went down,” Hartigan said.

“That was the last time I played forward and also in the ruck.

“It was a bit of a surprise today, but it was good fun.”

Jacobs, who will require scans to determine the extent of his injury, and Walker could both be available to play against the Brisbane Lions on Saturday night.

Hartigan was hopeful his first foray into attack as a Crow wouldn’t be his last.

“I said to Pykey, ‘Do you mind if I stay up there for a bit?’” he said with a laugh.

“But I think I might be back down in defence next week! Hopefully, those boys are alright and will be right to go.”

Pyke was pleased with his team’s ability to adapt to the structurally disruptive changes.

“Josh stepped up and carried the load in the ruck, but he got some help from a few other guys on the way through, which allowed us to keep some pressure around the ruck contests and around the clearances,” Pyke said.

“It was good for ‘Harto’ to go forward and kick a goal – the boys were pretty happy about that.”

Despite being without Walker and also Jenkins up forward for long periods, the Crows kicked 22 goals to record an 82-point win over the Bombers. 

Eddie Betts starred with five, while Charlie Cameron and Mitch Govern each kicked four goals – a career-high for McGovern and equal-personal best for Cameron.

The big win saw Adelaide gain more than four percentage points and move ahead of West Coast into fifth place on the AFL ladder. Only percentage separates the second and fifth-ranked teams, but Hartigan said it was fraught with danger for the Crows to go into games thinking about percentage.

“It’s very tight on the ladder. All we can do is keep winning and worry about the process every week,” he said.

“We’ll let the results take care of themselves.”