Wellington Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert will attempt to fill a hole in defence this weekend by sending attacking midfielder Troy Hearfield to right-back.

Following the three-match ban to Manny Muscat, the Phoenix are short a player who can perform on the right side of defence and 22-year old Hearfield, who has started just twice this season, is hoping that player can be him.

"It's unfortunate for Manny. He's a great guy and a great player but that's football and that's life," said Hearfield.

"I'm going to try and grab the opportunity with both hands and hopefully I'll do that on Friday night and the next two games.

"I've just been learning the game at right back at training. I've always been an attacking midfielder, an attacking player, throughout my career so it's a bit different.

"I'm fine going forward it's just I really have to work on the defensive side of my game.

"It's the positional awareness of where I am, keeping up with Andrew (Durante) and Siggy (Ben Sigmund) in the centre of defence.

"It's not really the tracking back it's more the positional sense of where I'm supposed to be and where the ball is at the same time."

Despite this slight interruption within the line-up, Hearfield is confident the Phoenix can put it aside and get the job done against league leaders Melbourne Victory on Friday night.

"(Victory) will be feeling confident of course but they also know we're a great side and we're a very good side at home," he added.

"I think we play our best football at home and we'll grab it with both hands this week and show the fans and the rest of the league we can match it with the league leaders."