Cheney played his second game in the brown and gold when called in to replace the injured Tom Murphy for the 65-point thrashing of Essendon at the MCG on Friday night.
Like so many others who have stepped into the boots of injured players at Hawthorn this season, Cheney slotted in seamlessly, amassing 21 disposals and kicking his first career goal.
"It was pretty late, but as the emergency you prepare like you're going to play anyway, so it was nothing out of the blue and I was ready to go," Cheney said after the win.
"It was probably handy in the end; Murphy and I are similar sorts of players so in terms of roles, it was just like-for-like.
"So we just swapped straight away and it was all pretty good."
Cheney was the benefactor of a Hawthorn tactic to place an extra man in defence as it tried to cover its lack of height against the Bombers' tall forward line, often finding himself as the loose man.
He and fellow defenders Grant Birchall, Matt Suckling and Josh Gibson amassed plenty of possessions as they neutralised Essendon in the air and then set up Hawthorn's counter-attacks with piercing passes to teammates further afield.
"It was a team focus with the lack of talls that we had, we just wanted that extra one in defence to help out, and it worked really well," the 21 year-old said.
"We didn't really designate who the loose man would be, it was just whoever the opposition rolled up to, the other one would just drop off.
"I suppose, luckily enough, I had that role a few times."
Cheney said the Hawks' ability to continue to overcome injury - and in the case of Franklin on Friday night, suspension - was testament to the quality of the club's list.
"The guys at Box Hill are performing really well, so when someone goes down, someone else just replaces them without any issue," he said.
"For a player like 'Buddy' to go out and the team still performs like that, it's a credit to the depth of the list I reckon."
The former Demon, who found his way to the Hawks during the 2010 trade period, has been one of those performing consistently at VFL level throughout the season.
He had to wait until a fortnight ago to make his club debut against Fremantle, and then made way for the returning Brent Guerra in the round 13 win over Gold Coast.
Clarkson admitted after the win over the Bombers that Cheney had been "as stiff as a dead man just waiting around for an opportunity".
Despite that, the first year Hawk said he couldn't be happier with his switch of colours.
"I'm really enjoying the change," Cheney said.
"I've come in and the guys have been great.
"The camaraderie around the place is awesome and it's a great place to be around."
Mark Macgugan writes for hawthornfc.com.au and covers Hawthorn news for afl.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @mmacgugan.
