ADELAIDE ruckman Brad Moran has North Melbourne’s Hamish McIntosh in his sights ahead of his first hit-out against his old club at AAMI Stadium on Sunday.

Moran, 22, sought a trade to the Crows in 2007 after managing just three games in three years with the Roos and is now starting to find his niche at West Lakes.

Last weekend, the English-born big man racked up a career-best 26 hit-outs as Adelaide overpowered an undersized Essendon.

On Tuesday, Moran said he’d gained confidence from playing five-consecutive games and was looking forward to the battle with the in-form McIntosh.

“I know Hamish pretty well and we’ve obviously played together. He’s a good solid player and it will be a good challenge,” Moran said.

“You have to be wary of Hamish around the ground because he can find the ball and use it.

“He’s a big, tall ruckman and he has a lot of strength and reach, so we’ll try and use athletic ability to try and beat him.”

Moran, who was selected by the Crows as a defender, said the form of Kurt Tippett in attack had allowed him to play more as a back-up ruckman this season.

“Both Ivan Maric and myself are more powerful, short-stint ruckmen and playing less game time helps us to play more explosively,” Moran said.

“Kurt takes most of the rucks up forward, which also gives us a chance to set-up in our defensive press. Having three big men definitely buys us a bit of time and allows us to perform at the top level.”

Injured skipper Simon Goodwin took an indoor training session at ESTA Park on Tuesday.

Goodwin, who has a medial ligament strain, has been cleared of structural damage and should be available after the break. His replacement this week is likely to be creative half-back Brent Reilly.

Reilly, who was omitted from the side last week, was best on ground for Sturt in the SANFL over the weekend.

The Crows will be looking to record a fourth-straight win against the Roos on Sunday and Moran said his side’s form explosion was a result of some “fine tuning”.

“We’ve been playing the same game style all year and it’s good now that we’re starting to really reap the benefits of it. We’ve been working on little things each week and the guys are starting to get more confidence in each other,” he said.

“But we’re still sitting in ninth, so there’s some work to do.”

Adelaide dug deep for veteran Tyson Edwards’ milestone game at Docklands on Sunday and Moran said he expected the same from North Melbourne in Adam Simpson’s 300th this week.

“North Melbourne is a passionate footy club and they will be fired up and ready to go, I’d imagine,” he said.

“He [Simpson] was the captain for a number of years and there’s a great respect for him throughout the footy club. It’s just about us and what we can do to break their spirits early.”