Footscray
Whitten made his VFL debut in round 1, 1951, against Richmond at the Punt Road Oval and joined a special group of players by kicking a goal with his first kick. During the match, "Mopsy" Fraser, a notoriously volatile defender for Richmond, knocked Whitten out late in the third quarter. Whitten later said that Fraser did him a favour that day, hardening his attitude and making him realise that League football was a no-nonsense game that only the toughest could succeed at. He was a key member of Footscray's 1954 VFL Premiership victory, the club's only premiership to date.
Played his very best football as a key position player, either at Centre Half Forward or Centre Half Back. Australian football writers Russell Holmesby and Jim Main described Whitten as a "prodigious kick, a flawless mark" and as having unequalled "ground and hand skills".
With superb all-round skills, the extraordinary talent of being able to kick equally well with his right and left foot,
One of the best exponents of the "flick" pass, which was eventually banned, Whitten was one of few football players to have the ability to play any position on the field. He was regarded by his contemporaries in the 1950s and 1960s as the greatest naturally talented player of his era;
With the demands of coaching and playing beginning to take a toll on his ageing body, Whitten was allowed by the Footscray committee to play four games in 1970 to break Dick Reynolds' longstanding VFL record of 320 games before he retired as a player. His 321st and final game was against Hawthorn at the Western Oval, a game which Footscray won by three points. He continued to coach Footscray until the end of the 1971 season.
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