Lachlan Hansen Biography

With North Melbourne in a rebuilding mode, Lachy Hansen fears his AFL career could well be over.

"I probably knew the writing was on the wall halfway through the season," Hansen, who was awarded North Melbourne's best clubman award for 2017, said.

"I had a good first half of the year, but had a stinker in round 13 - and that was pretty much it. We'd won four games and weren't going to play finals, so they went the way of playing a few young fellas in the backline.

"It was disappointing that it was me who was the one who missed out, but you could see where the club was going."

Hansen, however, believes he is still physically capable of contributing at the highest level.

"If I could get a chance to play another year or two or three at an interstate club, I'd jump at it – I would be on the first plane there," he said.

"If there's a club out there that needs a little bit of leadership to work with the young fellas at either end, I feel like I've got a lot to offer."

North Melbourne's list rebuild has claimed another senior player with Lachlan Hansen told he won't be offered a contract for 2018.

Hansen, who turned 29 two weeks ago, has fallen from favour over the past two seasons after establishing himself as one of the AFL's best intercept marks from 2013-15.

"Lachy has been a delight to coach and has been one of the most dynamic, versatile players in the league. His ability to play forward or back for us was a tremendous asset to the team," North Melbourne coach Brad Scott said.

"He'll be sorely missed around the club and was one of those unique characters. His ability to keep morale up, during this year in particular, was first class."

North Melbourne is yet to open contract talks with free agents Scott Thompson and Lachlan Hansen, having delayed calls on the veteran key defenders ahead of some tough list management decisions at the end of the season.

Thompson, 31, and Hansen, who turns 29 next month, have been vital members of North's defence, but the list rebuild the club embarked on at the end of 2016 clouds their futures at Arden St.

North Melbourne coach Brad Scott says being injury-free has been the driving force behind key defender Lachie Hansen's impressive start to the 2017 season.

"Lachie played under some pretty severe duress last year and he was tough enough to get out there and play, but [he] certainly wasn't at his best," Scott said.

"We did not have a back half with any stability through the year last year as well.

"I think it is a combination of all those factors and Lachie is going really well, and it comes off the back of a good pre-season and full fitness."

Lachlan Hansen hopes to make a "fresh start" this year after a 2016 season when little went right for him.

"Personally last year was pretty disappointing. Most years I'm in the senior team and playing week in week out, so when round one came around and I didn't get picked it was a bit disappointing," Hansen said.

"After that it was just a stop-start year for me. I had a few injuries, nothing major but enough to keep me out for a few weeks here and there.

"It was hard to push my case to get back into the team. I'd play a week here and there, and I struggled to get the form back to where it needed to be.

"I'm just looking forward to putting that behind me. I'm looking forward to kind of a fresh start this year and having a fair dinkum crack."

North Melbourne defender Lachie Hansen will have to pass a concussion test after being shirt-fronted when chasing an opponent while playing for the Kangaroo's VFL-affiliate Werribee.

The bump, which occurred late in the first quarter, collected Hansen high, forcing him from the ground with concussion and he was not able to take any further part in the game.

The Williamstown player, Cameron Lockwood, who elected to run past the play and bump Hansen to shepherd his teammate, accepted a two-week suspension from the VFL for the bump.

Lachie Hansen looks almost certain to miss North Melbourne's entire NAB Challenge campaign following surgery on his hip, casting further doubt on his late bid to play in round one against Adelaide.

Lachie Hansen is unlikely to play any part in North Melbourne's finals campaign.

The 197cm backman lasted only a half in his comeback from a hip injury last round against Melbourne and is facing an uphill battle to play again this season.

"We rolled the dice last week trying to get him up. The decision to leave him out this week was pretty clear cut," Kangaroos coach Brad Scott said.

"So he'll continue his rehab, he'll continue to train and try and get himself up for what potentially lies ahead but it's going to be a challenge for him from this point."

Lachie Hansen turns his back on free agency to sign a new three-year deal with the Kangaroos that will keep him at the club until the end of 2017.

Despite becoming a free agent at the end of 2014, Lachie Hansen says he has no intention of leaving North Melbourne.

"I love playing at North, so hopefully I can play some good footy and they'd like me to stick around," Hansen said.

"You'd be silly if you wanted to leave North, I reckon. Hopefully, we're going in the right direction and there are bigger and better things to come.

"Everyone's pretty much best mates at the club. Most of us have been together for at least six or seven years, so the camaraderie with all the boys is really good – we play for one another."

Lachlan Hansen says playing in defence is more suited to his natural game.

"I've played probably half and half between forward and back in the AFL," Hansen said.

"But I did play all of my junior footy down back and I'm probably a little bit more comfortable down there, reading the flight (of the ball) instead of having someone up my arse all day."

Drew Petrie hopes to form a good chemistry with fellow forwards Lachie Hansen and Robbie Tarrant but says it's up to him to make it work.

"Spreading the load and responsibility is really good, but personally I feel more responsibility in this side, not necessarily to get a kick myself, but more so to help the team," Petrie said.

"I understand that it's going to take 18 players to win a game of footy and it's going to take the three of us forwards to really work well to win a game.

"But I just take a lot of that responsibility and out of the three of us I feel more responsible for how we go than the other two guys."

New Dogs development coach Ashley Hansen says he can't wait to work with Liam Jones and Ayce Cordy.

"I'm going to be as enthusiastic as they are to watch them improve, so hopefully we can work together and really drive each other," Hansen said.

"I'm looking forward to working with them and seeing how they develop over the course of the year and making sure their skill-set is one that will hopefully win finals one day."

North escapes penalty over Lachie Hansen's concussion case, but is fined $20,000 for failing to cooperate fully with the inquiry.

"Whilst there was no finding that there was any attempt to deliberately mislead investigators, North Melbourne now accepts that its conduct at times was not at a standard acceptable to an AFL investigation," AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson said.

"The club has acknowledged it could have provided information and responses in a timelier manner and it could have been more proactive in helping to resolve the matter."

Key forward Lachlan Hansen has resisted outside interest to re-sign with North Melbourne for two years.

Key forward Lachie Hansen is set to ignore trade options and sign a new deal with North Melbourne.

"Lachie's keen to stay, which is great, and I went [and] saw him on Sunday with his partner Prue," Roos football chief Donald McDonald said.

"It's just a case of finalising the negotiations and hopefully we will be in a position to announce something shorty."

Lachlan Hansen could be on the way out of North Melbourne, reportedly unhappy with the contract offered to him by the Roos.

"There is an offer in front of him from North Melbourne, but it's not substantial and it's one that he's wavering on," Damian Barrett said.

"As these meetings go on between clubs today, his name will be bounced around. I won't say he's being shopped around, but clubs are certainly aware that if they want Lachie Hansen he's there to get."

Andrew Demetriou says comments by Drew Petrie on the AFL inquiry into Lachie Hansen's head knock were designed to intimidate.

"I'd just caution Drew. This is an ongoing, serious investigation," Demetriou said.

"North Melbourne, or any club, I've said this before, 'Butt out of investigations. Don't try and intimidate investigators'. They go about their business without fear or favour and they'll get to the bottom of it."

North skipper Brent Harvey's name-and shame comments after a heavy loss to Collingwood has drawn criticism from his coach and club president.

Harvey had called out teammates Sam Wright and Lachie Hansen expressing his impatience at their slow rate of reaching the next level.

"It will never happen again. He's apologised to the players concerned," Kangaroos coach Brad Scott said.

"It was born out of frustration and embarrassment. He made a mistake and it was dealt with very quickly. We certainly won't tolerate people putting the blame on individuals."

North Melbourne assistant coach Brett Allison says the Roos will maintain flexibility over where Lachie Hansen plays next year.

"I would be happy to have him week in, week out in the forward line, but he's still probably classified as a key position player," Allison said.

"If he's required in the defensive area, he might head back that way. I'd like to think that Nathan Grima, Robbie Tarrant and Scott Thompson stand up and are injury-free.

"If that's the case, I can certainly expect to see Lachie playing in the forward line next season."

Gavin Urquhart, Lachlan Hansen and Nathan Grima have all signed new deals that will keep them at North Melbourne.

Queensland native Gavin Urquhart, in particular, will be kept safe from the new Gold Coast franchise.

North Melbourne's Lachie Hansen believes a settled defence means he can now pinch-hit a lot more in attack after having to replace the injured Ben Warren against the Bulldogs in the forward lines.

"I hadn't really trained as a forward before. I was going to play down back, just helping out the backline on the weekend," Hansen said.

"It was a bit different and it took a while for me to get into the game but I had a couple of shots on goal and started to get a feeling for what it is like to be up forward and it wasn't too bad.

"It's a different role but I had a bit more freedom to run around and go for my marks and stuff.

"I quite enjoyed it so hopefully I get another go next week, after I train up a bit more and learn some leading patterns and stuff."