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VELOCITY SPORTS NEWS

Whitecross: AFL not too far away

Monday 26 November 2007

Hawthorn are not expecting Queensland draftee Brendan Whitecross to linger in the VFL with affiliate club Box Hill all next year ... they are thinking there's no reason he cannot be an AFL selection prospect in 2008.

As Whitecross left Brisbane to begin his AFL career with the Hawks Chris Pelchen, General Manager Player Personnel, told hawthornfc.com.au today he was confident each of the three Hawks players picked up in last Saturday's AFL National Draft could play senior football next year.

So this means former Port Adelaide premiership player Stuart Dew, chosen at No.45, first-round pick Cyril Rioli, chosen at No.12, and Whitecross, chosen at No.29.

In identifying the strengths of Rioli and Whitecross, Pelchen said each possessed a quality which had made Dew a star AFL player in his prime kicking.

"If you look at both Cyril Rioli and Brendan Whitecross, you'd actually rate their kicking skills at the high level as well as Dew," said Pelchen.

"We have a direct focus of getting good kicks to our club and Stuart no doubt would be one of the best kicks in the competition.

"It's certainly been part of our focus this year and it was part of the reason for taking Stuart, but the other two boys have plenty of skill."

While a fit and firing Dew would be a walk-up start for the Hawks next season, Pelchen is quietly confident Hawk fans will see Rioli and Whitecross at senior level too.

"I think he (Rioli) will probably play league footy next year. There's no doubt his fitness base needs a lot of work but because of his ability and understanding of the game he is capable of playing league footy without putting any extra pressure on him. He'll be a small crumbing forward," Pelchen said.

"Brendan will have the body physically to cope with senior footy next year because he played the whole year in Queensland playing senior footy. He's a strong boy who was in the best three at the draft camp for endurance and top five for speed."

The glowing endorsement from Pelchen came as Whitcross was farewelled at Brisbane Airport by his mother Colette and father Phil (above right).

Having only returned late last night from a family holiday to Warrnambool in western Victoria, he hurriedly packed and headed back to the airport for a 5.50pm flight to Melbourne which, oddly enough, also carried Rioli on route from Darwin.

Whitecross will board until Christmas with new Hawks captain Sam Mitchell before being allocated to a host family after the holiday period.

But there will be no soft initiation. He will be among 14 Hawthorn players in a sizeable club group heading to Papua New Guinea on Friday to tackle the Kokoda Trail.

They will do the challenging journey in 10 days while other members of the playing list who have already been to Kokoda travel instead to Coffs Harbour for a pre-season camp. 

Also at Brisbane Airport for a special farewell were sister Rosie and her husband and baby daughter, girlfriend Alex and a group of mates, plus fellow draftee Cyril Rioli, who stopped in Brisbane on route from Darwin.