# Brendan Whitecross

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

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. Whitecross 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

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. 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 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 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.

## Post AFL

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.

## Statistics

| Season | Team | No. | Games | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Averages (per game) | Votes |
| Season | Team | No. | Games | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | G | B | K | H | D | M | T | Votes |
| 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 | Career | 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 (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