More than 13 years ago, Ben Hart became the first Crow to reach the 300-game milestone.

Adelaide was facing West Coast at Aami Stadium in the midst of a heated rivalry between the two sides.

The Crows had claimed the 2005 minor premiership thanks to a Round 22 win in Perth… but the Eagles answered back just weeks later with a 16-point preliminary final victory to end Adelaide’s season.

It made the next matchup - Round Two, 2006 - all the more important for Hart in his 300th.

“Those games against West Coast always had a little bit of meaning,” Hart told AFC Media.

“West Coast had a great bunch of midfielders with Ben Cousins, Daniel Kerr, Chris Judd, etc... it was a fierce rivalry. 

“They were always a great team to compete against and I loved the build up to our games.”

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Behind a buzzing home crowd, Adelaide built an early 11-point lead, but the Eagles responded in style, taking a 27-point lead into the final break.

Hart, meanwhile, had provided an early highlight, setting up Mark Ricciuto for one of his five goals.

“I do remember one really good mark over Chris Judd on the wing and I played on because instinct kicked in,” Hart said.

“I kicked the ball to Mark Ricciuto on the lead and he went back and kicked the goal.

“That memory is stuck in my head.”

The final term began with five unanswered goals from the Crows but not even Ricciuto’s haul, 36 touches from Simon Goodwin, or 17 from Hart, could get the comeback over the line.

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West Coast steadied with two goals before Nathan Bassett’s last-gasp major closed the gap to just two points.

Despite the loss, Hart still had reason to celebrate his 300th.

“To get to 300 first and foremost was a pretty proud moment,” he said.

“Going through the banner with my two kids who were dressed up in Crows gear and only tiny back then, was even more special.

“The hype of being able to get them to do that and experience it with them was great and the best thing about it was being able to celebrate with family and teammates. 

“No footy player typically does it for individual accolades, so to be able to say the Club were good enough to pick me 300 times was fantastic.

“But to celebrate with guys I spent my whole career with was pretty special.”

Five months later, West Coast repeated their preliminary final success before going on to win the flag in 2006.