De-listed Hawk veteran Brendan Whitecross has been thrown a lifeline, accepting a coaching role with North Melbourne.
The Kangaroos signed the former Hawk as a development coach and player for the club's VFL team.
Hawthorn announced last Monday that Whitecross and VFL teammate Kieran Lovell would not be offered contracts for next season.
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"Brendan will play an instrumental role in helping to develop our younger players," Kangaroos football manager Cameron Joyce said.
"He's always had great versatility, playing forward, back or through the midfield, which will be beneficial.
"He knows what it takes to be successful and work through adversity and will set a great example for our younger players coming through.
"Brendan has shown great character, resilience and determination and he will be able to add great value to our team on and off the field."
Former Hawk Brendan Whitecross has joined the club as a development coach, as well as a player for @NorthVFL.
— North Melbourne (@NMFCOfficial) November 4, 2018
Welcome to Arden Street, Brendan. #BeAShinboner
The 28-year-old played 11 seasons with Hawthorn between 2008 and 2018, joining the club in the 2007 draft.
Making his AFL debut in 2009, Whitecross played 111 games in the brown-and-gold outfit. He completed his time at Box Hill with a VFL premiership in September, where the Hawks defeated the Casey Demons 72-62.
Whitecross' career was plagued with injury, missing out on all five of Hawthorn's grand final appearances after enduring two knee and a shoulder reconstruction.
Despite featuring in just 27 games in the past five AFL seasons, the luckless midfielder believes that he still has a lot of mileage left in his body.
"I believe that I've still got a lot to offer and that I've got a lot of games left in this body," Whitecross told Macquarie Sports Radio last week.
“My priority is to still play AFL footy. I’ve still got a lot to offer not just on the field but off the field with leadership and cultural aspects of my game.
"Coaching isn't something that I had considered in the past, but after the last 12 months it's certainly something that I'm going to look into if all else fails.
"Playing a lot of VFL football at Box Hill, the one thing that I got a lot of enjoyment out of was passing on knowledge and my experiences to the younger guys.
"I'm in good spirits. One door closes and another one hopefully opens."