LACHLAN Hansen has given North Melbourne fans some good news after the club's disappointing loss to Gold Coast, turning his back on free agency and re-signing with the Roos to the end of 2017.
AFL.com.au reported last month that Hansen was close to re-signing with North for another three seasons and the key defender confirmed on Monday he had reached a deal with the club.
Hansen, 25, was due to become a restricted free agent at the end of the season, but will be 29 when his new contract finishes and is now almost certain to finish his career a one-club player.
The key defender was North's best player in its 43-point loss to Gold Coast on Sunday, finishing with a career-high 30 possessions and 17 marks and often courageously backing into packs to take intercept marks or spoil.
Hansen has become one of the Roos' most consistent performers since settling in defence in round seven last year.
After seven rounds this year, he is ranked third in the AFL for marks (58), first at North for contested marks (nine) and second at the club for one-percenters (42).
Hansen told AFL.com.au he was excited to re-sign with the Roos and hoped to finish his career at the club that took him with pick No.3 in the 2006 NAB AFL Draft.
Hansen said he was "travelling all right" this year, but was more focused on finding answers to the inconsistency that has plagued North.
As impressive as the Roos have been in their wins over Port Adelaide, the Sydney Swans and Fremantle, they were just as disappointing in their losses to Essendon, Collingwood and the Suns.
"We've got to come up with some answers pretty quickly, because we have been very inconsistent this year," Hansen said.
"Our best footy can match it with anyone, as we showed against Fremantle and Sydney, but it looked like we didn't really come out to play against Gold Coast.
"The Suns came out firing and we were on the back foot for the rest of the day.
"We haven't done a review yet, but we'll do that tomorrow and we'll figure out where we let ourselves down so we can rectify that and come out against Brisbane in a couple of weeks and get the job done."
Hansen said North had no excuses for Sunday's loss, stressing that the players had not underestimated Gold Coast and had been well prepared after the nine-day break that followed their away win over Fremantle.
The defender said North's challenge now was to find a way to win when it was below its best.
"We've just got to be able to grind out games and, if we're not playing well, still be able to find a way to win the game," Hansen said.
"When we're on we're on, we're really good, but at the moment when we're a bit off it's showing in games and we can't get the job done.
"We've got to turn that around."
Hansen is the first of North's prospective 2014 free agents to re-sign, with Todd Goldstein (restricted), Leigh Adams, Michael Firrito and Brent Harvey (all unrestricted) still set to come out of contract at the end of the season.
