Sometimes opportunity presents itself out of nowhere, and plans change in an instant.

Although Lachlan Hansen has spent almost his entire VFL season playing in defence, the 27-year-old spent time in an old position on Sunday at Box Hill.

“In the back of our minds it was always going to be good for Lachie to have a bit of time forward,” development manager Ben Dyer told NMFC.com.au.

“We were keen for him to play at both ends, so the way the game unfolded allowed us to do that.”

Hansen started in his normal position in defence. Having that locked in allowed his preparation to stay the same in the build-up before opportunity presented itself.

“Box Hill had an extra defender behind the ball and only played the five forwards,” Dyer explained.

“When that opportunity presented itself to equalise and not give them the spare by sending Lachie forward, we took that opportunity.”

That opportunity initially came for a quick burst late in the second quarter, but was reinforced at half time.

“At half time the coaches said if Box Hill starts with a seventh (defender), just stroll down there when you’re ready,” Hansen said.

“I looked down there and straight away at the first centre bounce they started with seven, so I snuck down there and started playing up forward.”

Hansen immediately had an impact with Werribee’s first goal of the quarter; but it would turn out to be their only major of the term.

The Sherrin spent most of the period stuck in Box Hill’s attacking 50 but nevertheless the swingman saw the benefit of the move.

“It was good to get down there back in the forward line like a few years ago, run around as a forward and change it up a little bit.

“To have the ability to play both forward and back is handy. Hopefully when I can get back into the ones it’s at either end.”

At the final break, Hansen returned to his position in defence, but there would be one more change.

While the initial move forward was based on how Box Hill was playing, the second time had a different reason.

“I started back in the first 15 minutes of the last quarter and then went forward again to finish.

“We had to try something a little bit different because we were down a few goals.

“Although it didn’t really work, at the end of the day it was good to get some minutes in so if I do get the call-up I’m ready to go.”