On Friday, the South Australian forward chipped in with three goals in his side's three-point win over Vic Metro, for a total of 13 goals in South Australia's campaign.
And next Wednesday he will lead his state's forward line against Western Australia at Etihad Stadium, when a win will give South Australia its first NAB AFL Under-18 Championships division one title (it won an under-17 Teal Cup competition in 1995).
Hourigan will deal with that pretty well. The 191cm and 93kg 17-year-old has managed these sorts of things for at least a couple of seasons.
NAB Under-18 Championships hub
When he was 15, Hourigan created history at his SANFL club South Adelaide, becoming the youngest senior player in the club's history.
For Hourigan, then a defender, it came as a surprise.
He had been playing well in the reserves' side but was young and without the experience of others. Not that it overawed him – he didn't have time to let it do that.
"Ronny Fuller (Panthers coach) was happy with how I was playing in the twos as a 15-year-old and I got the go-ahead," Hourigan told AFL.com.au.
"I was at school and my phone was going off and I didn't know the number, so at recess I called the number and it was Ronnie, who said I was playing. About 30 minutes later I got another phone call from an unknown number and I thought 'What's going on here?'
"It was actually a television station giving me a buzz and they did a wrap on me. It all happened pretty fast and I had to take it all in pretty quickly."
Hourigan, an AIS-AFL Academy member, showed his consistency against Metro, and was pleased by the way he has been able to translate some form for the Panthers back to under-18 level.
At the start of the year he made a conscious effort to improve his running and second and third efforts, and feels the work paying off.
"The boys hit me up quite well across half-forward and I was pretty happy with the delivery. I could've kicked a couple more (he also kicked three behinds) but we got the win and that's the most important thing," he said.
"Playing back home at SANFL has helped develop me, because I wanted to build up my weight and strength, so I could get to this level and exploit that and become a better player."
"We have a really good forward structure and it's working well for Luke Reynolds, Mitch Harvey and myself."
Follow AFL website reporter Callum Twomey on Twitter at @AFL_CalTwomey.
