Lance Whitnall

Personal information
Birth	23 August 1979 (1979-08-23) (age 30)
Recruited from	Lalor, Victoria/Northern U18
Height and weight	190cm/100kg
Playing career¹
Debut	Round 1, 31 March 1997, Carlton vs. Essendon, at Melbourne Cricket Ground
Team(s)	Carlton (1997–2007) 216 games, 348 goals
¹ Statistics to end of 2007 season
Career highlights
Carlton team captain, 2007 AFL Rising Star award nominee 1997 All-Australian 2000 Carlton Best and Fairest 2006

Lance Whitnall (born 23 August 1979) is a former Australian rules footballer, and the ex-captain of the Carlton Football Club.

Contents 1 Early career (1997-99) 2 Mid-career (2000-2003) 3 Late career (2004-2007) 4 Post-playing career 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] Early career (1997-99)

Debuting in 1997 as a 17-year-old, the young Whitnall was recruited in the 1996 AFL Draft 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, and in Round 17, 1998 against the Western Bulldogs, 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.

[edit] Mid-career (2000-2003)

In 2000 Whitnall had his best season to date when he kicked 70 goals, including his career best 9.4 against Brisbane in Round 16, and was named in the All-Australian Team.

However, from there, the talented Whitnall had suffered a number of setbacks in his career, with ongoing injury and weight problems.

[edit] Late career (2004-2007)

In 2005, Whitnall turned around his previous weight problems and came out looking as fit as he has ever been. He performed very well during 2005 and 2006, playing predominately 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), and at the age of 27, Whitnall became the second youngest Carlton player (after Robert Walls) 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' 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 Carlton to sack Whitnall, bringing his 11 season, 216 game career at Carlton to an end at 28 years of age.

[edit] Post-playing career

Whitnall was recruited by NTFL side the Palmerston Magpies after being delisted by Carlton and played in two of the club's matches kicking several goals.

Lalor president Paul Honey confirmed that Whitnall had signed to play for Lalor in the 2008 season.

[edit] See also

• List of Australian rules football incidents

[edit] External links

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (February 2008)

• Lance Whitnall profile on the Official AFL Website of the Carlton Football Club
• Lance Whitnall's statistics from AFL Tables
• Lance Whitnall Profile in Blueseum

Preceded by Anthony Koutoufides	Captain of Carlton 2007	Succeeded by Chris Judd
Preceded by Anthony Koutoufides	Carlton Football Club Best and Fairest 2006	Succeeded by Andrew Carrazzo