Hi AdamFromWH,
The whirlpool assists in removong hot break, which is the by-products of the boil that you do not want in your beer for many reasons, not just clarity of the final beer. The "break" in the kettle should be removed as much as possible. Not saying your beer would be bad or anything, but this is just what I understand is good brewing practice for well established reasons.
Fear.
URL for additional opinions/results kettle trub into fermenter:
http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=radio
Episode- February 23, 2012 - "Trub Experiment Results"
James and Chris Colby, editor of Brew Your Own magazine, go over the results of the BYO-BBR Collaborative Experiment on kettle trub in the fermenter.