Lance Whitnall (born 23 August 1979) is a former
Australian rules footballer, and a former captain of the
Carlton Football Club
The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition.
Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Me ...
.
Early career (1997–1999)
Debuting in 1997 as a 17-year-old, the young Whitnall was recruited in the
1996 AFL Draft
The Australian Football League draft is the annual draft of unsigned players, especially new nominations, by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League (AFL).
History
W ...
under the
father-son rule, with his father
Graeme having played 66 games for
Carlton in the 1970s and 1980s.
The young red-headed, freckled Whitnall, known as "Banger", "Big Red" or simply "Red", quickly established himself in
Carlton's best 22, kicking four goals on debut, and missing only a handful of games in 1997 and playing every game in 1998 and 1999. He became a vital part of Carlton's
forward line
In the sport of Australian rules football, each of the eighteen players in a team is assigned to a particular named position on the field of play. These positions describe both the player's main role and by implication their location on the gro ...
, and in Round 17, 1998 against the
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition.
Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...
, the then-19-year-old Whitnall became one of the youngest players to kick 8 goals in a game. It was in this match that he well and truly had established his presence. Whitnall finished with 46 goals for the 1998 season, followed by 55 goals in 1999.
Mid-career (2000–2003)
In 2000 Whitnall had his best ever season when he kicked 70 goals, including his career best 9.4 against Brisbane in Round 16, and was named in the
All-Australian Team
The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-performed players during the season, led b ...
.
However, From there, the talented Whitnall had suffered a number of setbacks in his career, with ongoing injury and weight problems.
Late career (2004–2007)
In 2005, Whitnall turned around his previous weight problems and came out looking as fit as he had ever been. He performed very well during 2005 and 2006, playing predominantly as the senior member of the Blues' young backline. He capped off a solid 2006 with victory in the Blues' best and fairest (the
John Nicholls Medal
The John Nicholls Medal (formerly the Robert Reynolds Trophy from 1934 to 2003) is an Australian rules football award given to the player(s) adjudged best and fairest for the Carlton Football Club for the season. The voting system as of the 2017 A ...
), and at the age of 27, Whitnall became the second youngest Carlton player (after
Robert Walls
Robert Walls (born 21 July 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented and in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s and 1970s. In a playing career that spanned three decades Robert played a combined 259 gam ...
) to play 200 AFL games.
A long-term member of the leadership team, and widely regarded as having one of the best football brains in the game, Whitnall first took over the captaincy of the team during
Anthony Koutoufides
Anthony Koutoufides (born 18 January 1973), also known by his nickname of Kouta, is a retired Australian rules footballer with the Carlton Football Club. Considered by many as one of the most powerful and athletic players of all-time, he played ...
' hand injury in 2006, and became the full-time captain in 2007 after Koutoufides relinquished the position. However he struggled in 2007 with ongoing problems with a degenerative condition in his knee. At the completion of the 2007 season, concerns by the club about his degenerative knee being able to stand up to the pressures of AFL football forced Whitnall into retirement, bringing his 11-season, 216 game career at Carlton to an end at 28 years of age.
Statistics
:
, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
,
, 8 , , 18 , , 19 , , 15 , , 123 , , 55 , , 178 , , 71 , , 7 , , 7 , , 1.1 , , 0.8 , , 6.8 , , 3.1 , , 9.9 , , 3.9 , , 0.4 , , 0.4 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...
,
, 8 , , 22 , , 46 , , 34 , , 229 , , 114 , , 343 , , 148 , , 23 , , 46 , , 2.1 , , 1.5 , , 10.4 , , 5.2 , , 15.6 , , 6.7 , , 1.0 , , 2.1 , , 8
, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
,
, 8 , , 26 , , 55 , , 36 , , 266 , , 118 , , 384 , , 191 , , 22 , , 81 , , 2.1 , , 1.4 , , 10.2 , , 4.5 , , 14.8 , , 7.3 , , 0.8 , , 3.1 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
,
, 8 , , 25 , , 70 , , 45 , , 296 , , 95 , , 391 , , 208 , , 35 , , 62 , , 2.8 , , 1.8 , , 11.8 , , 3.8 , , 15.6 , , 8.3 , , 1.4 , , 2.5 , , 9
, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2001
,
, 8 , , 21 , , 37 , , 21 , , 226 , , 76 , , 302 , , 146 , , 27 , , 41 , , 1.8 , , 1.0 , , 10.8 , , 3.6 , , 14.4 , , 7.0 , , 1.3 , , 2.0 , , 2
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2002
,
, 8 , , 14 , , 28 , , 17 , , 162 , , 45 , , 207 , , 103 , , 15 , , 41 , , 2.0 , , 1.2 , , 11.6 , , 3.2 , , 14.8 , , 7.4 , , 1.1 , , 2.9 , , 3
, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2003
,
, 8 , , 12 , , 11 , , 11 , , 137 , , 42 , , 179 , , 73 , , 13 , , 26 , , 0.9 , , 0.9 , , 11.4 , , 3.5 , , 14.9 , , 6.1 , , 1.1 , , 2.2 , , 0
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2004
,
, 8 , , 19 , , 24 , , 14 , , 141 , , 61 , , 202 , , 75 , , 18 , , 52 , , 1.3 , , 0.7 , , 7.4 , , 3.2 , , 10.6 , , 3.9 , , 0.9 , , 2.7 , , 0
, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2005
,
, 8 , , 22 , , 24 , , 21 , , 229 , , 110 , , 339 , , 139 , , 20 , , 49 , , 1.1 , , 1.0 , , 10.4 , , 5.0 , , 15.4 , , 6.3 , , 0.9 , , 2.2 , , 5
, -
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2006
,
, 8 , , 22 , , 15 , , 8 , , 284 , , 130 , , 414 , , 177 , , 26 , , 23 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 12.9 , , 5.9 , , 18.8 , , 8.0 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , 5
, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA"
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,
2007
,
, 8 , , 15 , , 19 , , 16 , , 148 , , 54 , , 202 , , 86 , , 15 , , 22 , , 1.3 , , 1.1 , , 9.9 , , 3.6 , , 13.5 , , 5.7 , , 1.0 , , 1.5 , , 0
, - class="sortbottom"
! colspan=3, Career
! 216
! 348
! 238
! 2241
! 900
! 3141
! 1417
! 221
! 450
! 1.6
! 1.1
! 10.4
! 4.2
! 14.5
! 6.6
! 1.0
! 2.1
! 32
Post-AFL career
Whitnall was recruited by NTFL side the
Palmerston Magpies after being delisted by Carlton and played in two of the club's matches in the 2007/08 season, kicking several goals.
In the 2008 winter season, Whitnall returned to play for original club
Lalor in the NFL. He played there in 2008 and 2009. In 2010, Whitnall shifted to the
EDFL's
Craigieburn Football Club
The Craigieburn Football Club is an Australian rules football club and is located 27 km north of Melbourne in the township of Craigieburn.
History
After an unsuccessful application in 1970 for entry into the Riddell District Football ...
where he served as playing assistant coach for two seasons; in 2011, Whitnall was the EDFL's A-Grade leading goalkicker, after kicking fourteen goals in the final round to secure the title. Whitnall finished his playing career at
Glenroy, also in the EDFL, and also coached there from 2012 until 2015. He has been in an assistant coaching role at the
Calder Cannons
The Calder Cannons is an Australian rules football club from Melbourne, Australia. The club competes in the NAB League, the Victorian Statewide Under-18s competition, and fields squads in the Under-15s, Under-16s and Under-18s. The club was forme ...
in the
TAC Cup
The NAB League Boys (also referred to as simply the NAB League and formerly known as the TAC Cup) is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Vict ...
since 2016.
Whitnall also played
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
at a suburban level for the Lalor Warriors Cricket Club in the North Metro Cricket Association, where he was an opening or top order batsman, and was on the club's committee until 2016.
In 2017, Whitnall returned to play
football for the Division 3
NFL side
Laurimar Power Football Club where he was their leading goal kicker, kicking 29 goals for the season.
In 2021, Whitnall became Division 6 champion playing lawn bowls for Brunswick Bowls Club.
References
External links
Lance Whitnall at the Carlton Football Club website
*
Lance Whitnall profile in Blueseum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitnall, Lance
1979 births
Living people
Carlton Football Club players
All-Australians (AFL)
John Nicholls Medal winners
Palmerston Football Club players
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia)
Northern Knights players
Lalor Football Club players
Preston Football Club (VFA) players