There's players that have played in defence for their entire careers who struggle with the difficult assignment of curbing the influence of North Melbourne's Ben Brown.

Brown has surpassed the 60-goal threshold in each of his past three seasons and is one of the competition's most potent scoring sources.

But the 200cm forward managed just a single goal and three possessions on Sunday night. 

That was largely to do with Ben McEvoy.

The ruckman-cum-defender was integral to the Hawks win on Sunday night, quelling Brown in a fashion that belied the fact he has played just a handful of games in defence. 

How the Hawks outdid the Roos in Sunday night's nail-biter

"It was a big challenge," McEvoy said post-match of his match-up.

"Obviously this is all still pretty new to me and he's a quality player who works really hard. 

"I thought I held my own and just did enough.

"The way we play, I get a lot of support from the rest of the backline."

A ruckman for the first 12 years of his career, McEvoy continues to impress in his late career change.

A stand-out against Richmond last week after helping to negate Tigers key forward pair Jack Riewoldt and Tom Lynch, the 30-year-old backed it up decisively in Round 4.

McEvoy said he is relishing the change.

"I'm really enjoying the challenge and I think it's going OK.

"So, I'm happy to keep rolling with it and hopefully continue to get Ws next to our name."