Brendan Whitecross

Australian rules footballer

Australian rules footballer

Brendan Whitecross

Whitecross playing for Hawthorn in June 2017

Personal information
Full name|  Brendan Whitecross
Date of birth|  (1990-01-25) 25 January 1990 (age 34)
Place of birth|  Australia
Original team(s)|  Zillmere Eagles
Draft|  No. 29, 2007 national draft
Debut|  Round 1, 2009, Hawthorn vs. Geelong, at Melbourne Cricket Ground
Height|  185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight|  86 kg (190 lb)
Position(s)|  Defender
Playing career1
Years|  Club|  Games (Goals)
2007–2018|  Hawthorn|  111 (45)

1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2018.

Career highlights

* VFL premiership player: 2018

Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Brendan Whitecross (born 25 January 1990) is a former Australian rules football player who played with the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League.

## Early career[edit]

He is an all round sportsman having represented his state in Athletics and is an accomplished cricketer, cross country runner, rugby union player and swimmer and Captained his schools' St Patrick's College, Shorncliffe, Brisbane Athletics Squad and 1st Eleven Cricket Team.

Whitecross started his football life at the Kedron Districts Junior Football Club in Brisbane, Queensland playing there for 11 seasons before moving on to the Zillmere Eagles to commence his senior career. He represented Queensland in under 12s (2002), under 16s (2005–2006), captaining the team in 2006 and in under 18s in 2007. He was selected to the AIS/AFL Academy and travelled with the Australian under 17 team to South Africa in 2007.

## AFL career[edit]

Taken by Hawthorn with their second round draft pick in 2007, Whitecross spent the entire 2008 season in the VFL developing his craft with Hawthorn affiliate Box Hill.

Whitecross debuted in the round 1 grand final rematch against Geelong. On 14 June 2009, Whitecross re-signed with Hawthorn Football Club for two more seasons.[1] Whitecross closed an outstanding 2009 season at Hawthorn by winning the club's 2009 "Most Improved Player" Award. He polled 31 votes to finish 19th in the best and fairest vote-count.

By 2011, Whitecross had cemented his place in the Hawthorn line-up. It was his ability to apply pressure, to find the ball, present as a link up option going forward and uncanny goal sense that immediately made him a dangerous player.[2] His sure hands enabled him to become an important link man as the Hawks moved the ball from the middle to the forward line.

Whitecross ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee against Collingwood in the 2012 qualifying final, requiring a reconstruction.[3]

Whitecross again ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee against Geelong in the 2013 preliminary final. Hawthorn went on to win the game breaking an 11 game losing streak to Geelong since 2008. His injury meant he missed the 2013 AFL Grand Final and all of the 2014 AFL season.

On 29 October 2018, Whitecross was delisted by Hawthorn.[4]

## Post AFL[edit]

Whitecross became a development coach with North Melbourne but because of Covid his time was cut short when the state government banned contact sports. Whitecross was appointed coach of the Knox Football Club who compete in the Eastern Football League for seasons 2021 and 2022.[5]

## Statistics[edit]

Legend

| Goals |

| Kicks |

| Disposals |

| Tackles

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

| Behinds |

| Handballs |

| Marks
Season  | Team  | No. | Games  | Totals  | Averages (per game)  | Votes

|
|
|
|
|
|

G  | B  | K  | H  | D  | M  | T  | G  | B  | K  | H  | D  | M  | T
2008 | Hawthorn | 37  | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0
2009 | Hawthorn | 37  | 13 | 1 | 0 | 116 | 116 | 232 | 86 | 22 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 8.9 | 8.9 | 17.8 | 6.6 | 1.7 | 0
2010 | Hawthorn | 37  | 16 | 9 | 11 | 130 | 72 | 202 | 80 | 32 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 8.1 | 4.5 | 12.6 | 5.0 | 2.0 | 0
2011 | Hawthorn | 37  | 21 | 16 | 10 | 230 | 103 | 333 | 124 | 55 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 11 | 4.9 | 15.9 | 5.9 | 2.6 | 0
2012 | Hawthorn | 37  | 22 | 9 | 9 | 293 | 144 | 437 | 135 | 57 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 13.3 | 6.5 | 19.9 | 6.1 | 2.6 | 2
2013 | Hawthorn | 11  | 12 | 3 | 1 | 112 | 67 | 181 | 67 | 26 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 9.3 | 5.6 | 15.1 | 5.3 | 2.2 | 0
2014 | Hawthorn | 11  | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0
2015 | Hawthorn | 11  | 4 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 21 | 44 | 19 | 5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 5.8 | 5.3 | 11.0 | 4.8 | 1.3 | 0
2016 | Hawthorn | 11  | 9 | 2 | 1 | 73 | 83 | 156 | 58 | 19 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 8.1 | 9.2 | 17.3 | 6.4 | 2.1 | 0
2017 | Hawthorn | 11  | 8 | 2 | 3 | 60 | 48 | 108 | 40 | 20 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 7.5 | 6.0 | 13.5 | 5.0 | 2.5 | 0
2018 | Hawthorn | 11  | 6 | 3 | 4 | 48 | 32 | 80 | 27 | 18 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 8.0 | 5.3 | 13.3 | 4.5 | 3.0 | 0
Career[6] | 111 | 45 | 39 | 1085 | 688 | 1773 | 636 | 255 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 9.8 | 6.2 | 16.0 | 5.7 | 2.3 | 2

## Honours and achievements[edit]

Team

* 2× Minor premiership (Hawthorn): 2012, 2013
* VFL premiership player (Box Hill): 2018
* Minor premiership (Box Hill): 2015

Individual

* Hawthorn most improved player: 2009
* Box Hill All-Star team (1999–2019)
* Hawthorn life member

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Hawthorn re-signs premiership duo, young gun - AFL.com.au". Archived from the original on 17 June 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
2. ^ "2012 Review: Whitecross".
3. ^ "Whitecross nearing return - hawthornfc.com.au". www.hawthornfc.com.au. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
4. ^ Olle, Sarah (29 October 2018). "Popular Hawk Brendan Whitecross, young midfielder Kieran Lovell cut from club". Fox Sports. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
5. ^ "WHITECROss's THE MAN | Eastern FNL". 30 July 2020.
6. ^ "Brendan Whitecross". AFL Tables. Retrieved 14 October 2014.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brendan Whitecross.

* Brendan Whitecross's playing statistics from AFL Tables

* v
* t
* e

2007 AFL national draft

First round|

* 1\. Matthew Kreuzer
* 2\. Trent Cotchin
* 3\. Chris Masten
* 4\. Cale Morton
* 5\. Jarrad Grant
* 6\. David Myers
* 7\. Rhys Palmer
* 8\. Lachie Henderson
* 9\. Ben McEvoy
* 10\. Patrick Dangerfield
* 11\. Patrick Veszpremi
* 12\. Cyril Rioli
* 13\. Brad Ebert
* 14\. Jack Grimes
* 15\. Robbie Tarrant
* 16\. Matthew Lobbe
* 17\. Harry Taylor
* 18\. Alex Rance (PP)

Second round|

* 19\. Callan Ward
* 20\. Tony Notte
* 21\. Addam Maric
* 22\. Scott Selwood
* 23\. Tayte Pears
* 24\. Clayton Hinkley
* 25\. Tom Collier
* 26\. Brett Meredith
* 27\. Andy Otten
* 28\. Marlon Motlop
* 29\. Brendan Whitecross
* 30\. Jarrhan Jacky
* 31\. John McCarthy
* 32\. Levi Greenwood
* 33\. Matthew Westhoff
* 34\. Dawson Simpson

Third round|

* 35\. Sam Reid
* 36\. Steven Browne
* 37\. Scott Thompson
* 38\. Myke Cook
* 39\. Darcy Daniher (F/S)
* 40\. Chris Mayne
* 41\. James Polkinghorne
* 42\. Jack Steven
* 43\. Easton Wood
* 44\. Scott Simpson
* 45\. Stuart Dew
* 46\. Dennis Armfield
* 47\. Toby Thoolen
* 48\. Jarrad Boumann
* 49\. Mitch Farmer
* 50\. Dan McKenna

Fourth round|

* 51\. Dean Putt
* 52\. Bradd Dalziell
* 53\. Kyle Cheney
* 54\. Cale Hooker
* 55\. Mark Johnson
* 56\. Matt Austin
* 57\. Fraser Gehrig
* 58\. Tony Armstrong
* 59\. Craig Bird
* 60\. Adam Donohue (F/S)
* 61\. Jaxson Barham (F/S)
* 62\. Josh Smith
* 63\. Guy O'Keefe

Fifth round|

* 66\. Tom McNamara
* 69\. Kepler Bradley
* 70\. Eljay Connors
* 71\. Aaron Kite
* 72\. Blake Grima

Sixth round|

* 75\. Taylor Walker (NSWSP)

* v
* t
* e

Box Hill Football Club 2018 VFL premiers

Box Hill 10.12 (72) defeated Casey 8.14 (62), at Marvel Stadium

* 2\. Moore (c)
* 7\. Brolic
* 10\. Hams
* 11\. Kilpatrick
* 12\. Jones
* 32\. Mirra
* 36\. Moore
* 37\. Ross
* 39\. Lewis
* 41\. Hanrahan
* 42\. Miles
* 43\. Jiath
* 44\. Glass
* 45\. Nash
* 46\. Cousins
* 50\. Willsmore
* 51\. Whitecross
* 52\. O'Rourke
* 56\. Pittonet
* 59\. Brand
* 60\. Lovell
* 61\. O'Brien

Coach: Newman

* v
* t
* e

Box Hill Football Club • All-Stars team (1999–2019)

Full-back|

* Taylor Duryea
* Lukas Markovic
* Michael Firrito

Half-back|

* Kyle Cheney
* David Mirra (c)
* Matthew Brewer

Centre|

* Sam Iles
* Sam Mitchell
* Ed Curnow

Half-forward|

* Sam Gibson
* Clinton Alleway
* Brendan Whitecross

Full-forward|

* Stephen Kenna
* Cameron Pedersen
* Michael Osborne

Ruck|

* Robert Campbell
* Josh Kennedy
* Ben McGlynn

Interchange|

* Matthew Ball
* Kristan Height
* Andrew Moore
* Brad Sewell
* Mitch O'Donnell (23rd player)

Coach|

* Damian Carroll

*[No.]: number
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template