The centre-half was delighted when the Ewood Park club landed striker Rhodes from Huddersfield for a record £8million transfer fee last week.
The 22-year-old – a former signing target for Celtic – is one of the hottest properties in British football after banging in 40 goals for the League One club last season.
Hanley believes the capture of the prolific hit man can help fire Blackburn straight back into the Barclays Premier League.
And he is also confident the Oldham-born star can get the national team off to a successful opening in their World Cup qualifying campaign.
"I would back Jordan to score on Saturday if he gets the nod to play against Serbia," he said. "You saw when he made his Scotland debut against Australia that he can handle the step up.
"He has also been scoring a lot of goals for the Scotland Under-21 team. You know he is always going to be able to put the ball in the back of the net if he gets the chance."
Rhodes netted a sensational glancing header for Scotland in the morale-boosting 3-1 win over the Socceroos in a friendly international at Easter Road last month.
As a result of that stunning effort, and his displays at club level and for the U21s, he is set to be involved at some stage against Serbia this weekend.
Taking on a team currently ranked in 35th place in the Fifa world rankings will be a demanding start to Group A for Craig Levein's side.
However, thrice-capped defender Hanley, who is also hoping to get on at some stage in proceedings, is confident his Scotland room-mate can make a difference.
He said: "I know Jordan quite well as I room with him. I hadn't met him until we joined up with the U21 squad. I get on really well with him.
"As soon as I heard Blackburn were in for him I knew it would be good for the club. There were a lot of rumours about him. I am just happy he has signed. Hopefully he can score goals for us.
"Jordan scored a lot of goals last season, and he can do the same for us. There was a real buzz about him in England last season with the number of goals he scored. He has brought some real excitement to the club.
"You only have to look at his goal-scoring record to see what a good player he is. It speaks for itself. There aren't many better. I have no doubt he can score goals for Scotland given the chance."
Speaking about Scotland's World Cup campaign, Hanley continued: "It is a tough group, but it is always going to be. We aren't going to get an easy group. We will just take every game as it comes, get off to a good start and take it from there.
"I think at Hampden, once you get the fans behind you, you have always got a good chance. But we will just take every game as it comes. We will go into every game with a positive attitude."
Hanley, 20, has only played twice for Blackburn during the 2012/13 campaign; against MK Dons in the Capital One Cup last week and against Leeds United in the npower Cham-pionship last Saturday.
However, he is delighted to be involved with his country once again and is confident he can cope with the step up to international football if called on by Levein.
The Dumfries-born player admitted: "I haven't really played much. I had the cup game in midweek and then I came on after 10 minutes in the game at the weekend. It was good to get some minutes under my belt there.
"I am still young, still working away at Blackburn trying to learn off some of the older boys, trying to get myself into the team.
"Scott Dann and Gael Givet are two really experienced boys in front of me. They are good with the young lads. It is good to learn from them.
"All of the boys in the Scotland squad have been a help. With me being young, it is really good for me to experience being around the squad. I enjoy it. All the older boys are brilliant with the young lads.
"International football is a similar level to what I am used to playing at Blackburn.
"Hopefully, the experience with Scotland can also help me at club level, help me push on and get into the first team as much as I can."
