Brendan Whitecross (born 25 January 1990) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

player who played with the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawt ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

Early career

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 St Patrick's College is an Independent school, independent Catholic school, Catholic primary and secondary day school for boys, located on the waterfront in Shorncliffe, Queensland, Shorncliffe, north of Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia. Establi ...

, 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

Taken by with their second round draft pick in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, 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 . On 14 June 2009, Whitecross re-signed with Hawthorn Football Club for two more seasons. 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. 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 The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

in his right knee against Collingwood in the 2012 qualifying final, requiring a reconstruction. Whitecross again ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee against 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 The 2013 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between Hawthorn Football Club and Fremantle Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 28 September 2013. It was the 118th annual grand final of the Australian Footb ...

and all of the

2014 AFL season The 2014 AFL season was the 118th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured ei ...

. On 29 October 2018, Whitecross was delisted by Hawthorn.

Post AFL

Whitecross became a development coach with 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 The Knox Football Club is an Australian rules football club located in Wantirna South, Victoria Wantirna South is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 25 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City ...

who compete in the Eastern Football League for seasons 2021 and 2022.

Statistics

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2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

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2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, , , , 37 , 13 , , 1 , , 0 , , 116 , , 116 , , 232 , , 86 , , 22 , , 0.1 , , 0.0 , , 8.9 , , 8.9 , , 17.8 , , 6.6 , , 1.7 , , 0 , - style=background:#EAEAEA ,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, , , , 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 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

, , , , 37 , 21 , , 16 , , 10 , , 230 , , 103 , , 333 , , 124 , , 55 , , 0.8 , , 0.5 , , 11 , , 4.9 , , 15.9 , , 5.9 , , 2.6 , , 0 , - style=background:#EAEAEA ,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, , , , 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 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

, , , , 11 , 12 , , 3 , , 1 , , 112 , , 67 , , 181 , , 67 , , 26 , , 0.3 , , 0.1 , , 9.3 , , 5.6 , , 15.1 , , 5.3 , , 2.2 , , 0 , - style=background:#EAEAEA ,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, , , , 11 , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , 0 , - ,

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, , , , 11 , 4 , , 0 , , 0 , , 23 , , 21 , , 44 , , 19 , , 5 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 5.8 , , 5.3 , , 11.0 , , 4.8 , , 1.3 , , 0 , - style=background:#EAEAEA ,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, , , , 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 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, , , , 11 , 8 , , 2 , , 3 , , 60 , , 48 , , 108 , , 40 , , 20 , , 0.3 , , 0.4 , , 7.5 , , 6.0 , , 13.5 , , 5.0 , , 2.5 , , 0 , - style=background:#EAEAEA ,

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, , , , 11 , 6 , , 3 , , 4 , , 48 , , 32 , , 80 , , 27 , , 18 , , 0.5 , , 0.7 , , 8.0 , , 5.3 , , 13.3 , , 4.5 , , 3.0 , , 0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 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

Team * 2× Minor premiership ():

* VFL premiership player (): 2018 * Minor premiership ():

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whitecross, Brendan Australian rules footballers from Queensland Hawthorn Football Club players Box Hill Football Club players Zillmere Eagles Australian Football Club players 1990 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Brisbane