ADELAIDE defender Tony Armstrong was excited to make his AFL debut against Fremantle last weekend, but says he could get an even bigger thrill if he’s selected to take on the Sydney Swans at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.

Armstrong, who hails from the ingloriously named town of Burrumbuttock in New South Wales, grew up supporting the Swans and was poised to join the club as a rookie before being snaffled up by the Crows at pick No.58 in the 2007 NAB AFL Draft.

The dashing half-back said he was looking forward to the prospect of playing against childhood hero and dual Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes. 

“I grew up in western Sydney and supported the Swans. I just loved Michael O’Loughlin and Adam Goodes. Hopefully, I get a game this weekend and I can get out there and rub shoulders with [Goodes],” Armstrong said on Wednesday.

“You’d treat him like any other player, but hopefully after the game I could go up and shake his hand and tell him I grew up idolising him.”

Armstrong’s AFL debut was reward for a tough first two years in Adelaide.

The 20-year-old contemplated throwing away a future in footy after becoming homesick in his first season at the club.

He failed to play a league game with SANFL side North Adelaide and was permitted to return home after a broken arm spelled the end of this season.

Armstrong credited the club, and in particular superstar Andrew McLeod, with convincing him to stay at West Lakes.

“It took me a little while to find my feet over here in South Australia. I came from a pretty close family and also a boarding house, so I was really close to all my friends there. To get up and leave them all was pretty tough and I got quite homesick,” Armstrong said.

“Halfway through last year I started to find my feet here. That started to [translate] into the way I played footy and I started getting some emergency gigs. This year I had a pretty good pre-season and was lucky enough to be in the mix for round one, so I just tried to make the most of the opportunity.”

Armstrong was named an emergency on six occasions last season and would have made his debut against North Melbourne in round 12 if he hadn’t been quarantined alongside housemate Richard Douglas who was feared to have swine flu.

The skilful former Assumption College student had a tough initiation to the AFL in Adelaide’s 56-point loss to Fremantle, but said he enjoyed every minute of it.

“I spoke to a few of the boys about the game beforehand and they told me it was going to be a bit of a step up, which it was,” he said.

“Fremantle came up and they were very fast. The game was really quick, but in terms of the crowd and the build up, I couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Armstrong will have to fight to keep his spot in the Crows’ side this week, with star forwards Jason Porplyzia, Brett Burton and Chris Knights all likely to play at some level this weekend.

Ruckman Ivan Maric is also a chance to be recalled, despite not having played a game since round one of the NAB Cup.