It was a scary ordeal, but Brendan Whitecross wants to assure fans that all has been restored since his house was broken into and car stolen last Tuesday.
“Luckily everybody came out of it well. My partner is okay and the two boys are fine, but it’s certainly not a pleasant situation to go through.”
Whitecross was awoken at 2am by his dogs barking uncharacteristically. When he went downstairs to investigate, he was confronted by two men trying to break out of his front window.
“We realised they were in the house trying to steal our car. They ended up taking one of the cars and going on a bit of a joy ride around Melbourne.”
The thieves didn’t get very far, thanks to a quick response from Victoria Police.
“The burglary happened at 2am, we called the police at 2.03am, and they were at our house at 2.10am. At quarter past, they had the police helicopter in the sky… and within a matter of hours they had two of the suspects in custody.
“We cannot fault the police whatsoever. They were just brilliant through the whole situation, not just with their response times but by constantly keeping us updated with what was going on.”
It wasn’t just the police who performed admirably; Whitecross had a number of people to thank for helping smooth over what was initially a frightening situation.
“[The car dealership] for making sure the car was in good condition and getting that back going. Channel Seven and Nine were really good through the ordeal, they were very respectful of our privacy. Also, 3AW were really good at getting the message out on the air every 10 minutes.
“To those three media outlets… and to the footy club and all the supporters with all the messages of concern and support, we can’t thank them enough.”
Indirectly, it seems Whitecross also has Luke Hodge to thank, for helping him react quickly in the face of danger.
“In these situations you either hit the fight or flight mode. I picked fight and I came bursting down the stairs, and all that was going through my mind was that if I can take on Hodgey, I can take on anyone.
