Jenkins had been locked in a tussle with several teammates to fill the vacant spot, with Shaun McKernan, Lewis Johnston and former Richmond ruckman Angus Graham all vying for the same job.
Jenkins booted two goals and managed a score assist against the Blues, but was taken advantage of for the most part when he replaced Sam Jacobs in the ruck.
The 24-year-old managed just five hit-outs, whereas Jacobs had 19 and Blues Robbie Warnock, Matthew Kreuzer and forward Shaun Hampson had 16, 16 and nine.
But coach Brenton Sanderson said such numbers were deceiving and claimed Jenkins had impressed enough to suggest the role of second ruckman was a string to his bow worth strumming.
"I think we can still use him in the ruck, I think in his last two or three games he's shown enough," Sanderson said.
"He still needs to improve and he's working really hard behind the scenes to improve his ruck work, but he's a really exciting and dynamic player and the more work he gets into him the better.
"He won his fair share of hit-outs tonight though, a couple of really nice hit-outs in the middle."
While Jenkins appears to be the leading candidate for the forward role, Sanderson insisted he still entertained the possibility of playing two ruckman in round one.
"Last year we played with a ruck and a forward who rucks, and at other times we played with two rucks and a forward," he said.
"We haven't decided what we'll use against Essendon either yet, we could still use a taller forward line with two rucks…we'll have a good debate about that at match committee over the next two weeks."
Crows scrape past Blues
Jenkins' athleticism and X-factor holds him above Adelaide's other candidates for the vacant forward position, but full forward wasn't the only spot players auditioned for on Friday night.
Retired small defender Michael Doughty's position has also been up for grabs over the summer and 20-year-old Luke Brown was offered another chance to make it his against the Blues.
While only managing seven disposals and two rebound 50s on Friday night, Brown impressed by helping to keep Eddie Betts, arguably the League's premier goal sneak, goalless and to just five effective disposals.
Sanderson said the night's performance had settled some selection issues he had leading into the match, and while he would have to cut three players before round one, he was happy with the dynamic.
"We were pretty much full strength tonight outside of Brodie Smith with his [broken] collar bone…we're pretty much there (round one side)," he said.
"The start was a lot better, the third quarter was outstanding, last quarter we'll have a look [and] make sure it was a mental thing and not a physical thing."
Harry Thring is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry.
