It’s not often you find out you’ll be playing an AFL game just five minutes before a match.

That was the case for Brendan Whitecross on Saturday afternoon, as the veteran Hawk was called in as a late, late, LATE inclusion for the Hawks’ Round 7 clash with Essendon.

“I was in, I was out, I was in, I was out,” Whitecross joked after the match.  

“I was on the way to Box Hill and (GM-Football) Graham Wright rang me and said ‘do you mind making a detour past the MCG’.

“Then, it was only in the last five minutes just before we were about to run out that they said ‘righto you’re in’.

“In some ways it’s probably good because you don’t over think it, you just go out and play.  

“But it is tough, it’s not something I’d like to do every week.” 

Luckily, Whitecross’ experience shone through, with the versatile mid looking right at home in his first senior game of 2018, even adding a goal to his tally. 

Into his 11^th season at the club, the 28-year-old has been around for good times and bad, both on a personal level and as part of the team. 

Despite injury and misfortune preventing the Hawk from playing part in any of the four premierships won during his tenure, he knows what a successful team looks like – more than most.

2018, according to Whitecross, has some extremely positive indicators. 

“Last year didn’t go the way we wanted it to, so we’ve sort of come in through the pre-season and hit the reset button,” he said. 

“We’ve put a lot of trust and dedication into our younger guys and have focused on getting their confidence up.

“When your young guys are up and about, it brings the older guys in the group up and about too. 

“Everybody knows their role, everybody knows what’s going on, so the energy amongst the side and around the club at the moment is really, really strong.” 

Having started his 2018 with the Box Hill Hawks, Whitecross has been exposed to much of the new talent coming through Hawthorn’s ranks, and he certainly hasn’t been disappointed. 

 “There’s been a lot of guys impressing,” he said. 

 “Obviously Mirra, he’s not a young guy, but after playing VFL for nine years, to be able to slot into our system the way that he has is really impressive.

“Harry Morrison is another who has come in and had an impact straight away.  

“He looks great, he’s pretty smooth with the ball, he runs hard and goes in hard as well. 

“And then there’s the man-child James Worpel, he’s just an animal.

“So those three have really impressed and our younger guys are just playing some really good consistent footy at Box Hill. 

 “It makes it tough at AFL level because the pressure is always on to perform.

“We’ve got a really good crop of young players and a really good, fit list, so it’s all looking good for us.”