Chris Judd’s decision to join Carlton Football Club excited late president Dick Pratt
THE late Dick Pratt could have anything money could buy, but none of his privileges compared to being told Chris Judd would become a Carlton player.
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THE late Dick Pratt could have anything money could buy, but none of the privileges of his immense wealth compared to being told Chris Judd would become a Carlton player.
Or, as Greg Swann said when he called club legend Steven Kernahan to confirm news of Judd’s arrival: “The Eagle Has Landed”.
West Coast star Judd’s decision to choose Carlton over Essendon, Collingwood and Melbourne in October 2007 was seismic, the biggest AFL trade since Tony Lockett moved to Sydney.
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But while many believed Judd used rival clubs as a stalking horse before accepting Pratt’s Visy millions, he said Tuesday that decision went down to the wire.
Kernahan said Carlton had just dragged itself up from its knees when it was told of Judd’s arrival.
“He limited it to four clubs and there are a lot of people who claim they got Chris Judd to Carlton — Chris Judd got himself to Carlton,’’ Kernahan told the Herald Sun.
Kernahan and his wife were in New York with Pratt when they learned of Judd’s decision.
“I have never seen Dick so excited in my life,” Kernahan said. “For a bloke who has been through a lot of things in his life out of footy, Dick Pratt was so excited to get him.”
Judd had conducted tours of the four clubs, eventually refining his decision to a race between arch rivals Carlton and Collingwood
His manager Paul Connors said Judd made up his mind only after his tour, not in mid-June as Essendon had surmised after missing out on their man.
“He wanted to be involved with something from the ground up,” Connors said. “There weren’t the facilities here then. They were showing us what could have been.
“Matthew Knights was about to be appointed but Essendon didn’t have a coach yet, Melbourne was down at Junction Oval and Collingwood was in it up to their eyeballs.
“He chopped and changed over a period and he came to the conclusion it was Carlton.”
The call to Carlton came on October 2, 2007, and the Blues’ new chief executive Swann immediately was aware it was the rebirth of a football club.
“I had been down at my in-laws farm down in Maffra and Paul Connors rang and said, “He’s coming’,” Swann said. “Dick was in New York and I rang him and said, ‘He’s coming’.
“The phone went silent and I thought, ‘That’s a bit weird. Has the phone dropped out?’. Then he came back on line and said, ‘I was just doing a little jig in my apartment’.
“I rang (Kernahan) not long after and said, ‘The Eagle has Landed’.
Swann revealed to the Herald Sun the Eagles first asked about a swap that involved Andrew Walker and draft picks, rather than goalkicker Josh Kennedy.
The Blues had thrown up resident bad boy Brendan Fevola — soon to be traded to Brisbane — but West Coast eventually changed their focus from Walker to Kennedy.
“They weren’t going there (on Fevola). West Coast actually spoke about Walker instead of Kennedy, but in the end Josh was a West Australian so they went for him.”
Judd played in four finals series, won his second Brownlow Medal and three best-and-fairests at Carlton, but admitted the Blues were never close to a flag.
But that doesn’t add up to a hint of regret about his decision to choose the Blues.
“It was a decision that had to be made and we went through a lot of different options,” he said.
“I ran into (Essendon’s) Adrian Dodoro at the races in October and he said, ‘We were wasting our time with you’ because the decision had been made mid-June, which was completely incorrect.
“I am really thankful I chose the Carlton Football Club. Joining a football club is a little bit like having a kid, a little bit of that footy becomes a part of you and this is a very special footy club to be part of.”
Originally published as Chris Judd’s decision to join Carlton Football Club excited late president Dick Pratt
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