Carlton must rejuvenate its list, but champ Chris Judd should be encouraged to play on, writes Mark Robinson
WHILE Carlton must rejuvenate its list in the coming years, champ Chris Judd should be encouraged to play on, writes Mark Robinson.
Mark Robinson
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MICK Malthouse clearly knows more about Chris Judd’s mind and body than almost anyone.
And that’s why his offerings this week that Judd should consider retiring at the end of the season were so confronting.
Was Malthouse giving Judd a none-too subtle hint?
The gut feel says yes, but coaches work in mysterious ways.
Perhaps Malthouse was baiting Judd, trying to get even more out of the champ as season 2014 dwindles for the Navy Blues. Who knows?
From the outside, Chris Judd is not cooked as a footballer.
MICK: LEAVE SOMETHING IN THE TANK, JUDDY
He no longer is the tearaway midfielder, but you only have to watch Carlton play with Judd in the team to know he remains a valuable commodity.
Carlton’s problem is it has to rejuvenate its list.
It has to find tearaway midfielders and that’s why major decisions have to be made at the end of the season.
If it’s a decision between, say, Andrew Carrazzo and Judd, sorry, but it’s goodbye Carrazzo.
Judd should be encouraged to play on.
The question is: What role can he play?
Midfields are made up of various creatures. There’s the coalface minds such as Josh Kennedy, running machines such as Isaac Smith, possession winners such as Gary Ablett, big-bodied types like Nathan Fyfe and generals like Scott Pendlebury or Joel Selwood.
Judd is bit of all of them, but not the best in any of them.
He was the sport’s most devastating midfielder at the Eagles before groin injuries got him, but such is his competitiveness and greatness he transformed himself to hardball get midfielder who ran around each weekend with a heavy tag.
It didn’t diminish his brilliance. In fact, it elevated him as a footballer.
How many footballers do you know who had their major weapon taken away from them — in this case, speed — and then applied themselves to be different kind of midfielder, and become one of the competition’s best at doing it?
It’s why Carlton should consider asking Judd to become a third kind of midfielder — a tagger.
Carlton can’t afford to lose Judd but, at the same time, it probably can’t afford to have him as an out-and-out midfielder.
As a defensive midfielder in the mould of a Kane Cornes, Judd’s leadership wouldn’t be lost to the club when it needs every bit of leadership, and if Judd couldn’t gather 20 possessions as well as trying to curtail an opposition gun, I’ll go he.
Speed is not the issue because, as Cornes shows us every week, speed of mind is as important as speed of foot.
Of course, Judd would need to buy in.
The mental strength needed, which is based around, at times, ignoring the ball and stopping your opponent, is absolute.
Judd has always been a see-ball, get-ball type and his determination in that role has made him a great.
Why couldn’t he apply the same determination to what would be his third life as a midfielder, having already been an explosive attacker and a contested ball winner?
It would require a reprogramming of Judd, a reinvention if you like, but that shouldn’t be a problem, for the dual Brownlow Medallist has conquered every challenge to date.
The Blues play the best team in the competition tonight, Sydney, and they should consider using Judd in a defensive role.
Give him Jarrad McVeigh or Kieren Jack or Luke Parker. Yeah, Parker’s the one. He’s an inside and outside midfielder without terrific pace.
And next week against North Melbourne set him for Andrew Swallow or Ben Cunnington.
In Round 19 against Fremantle, there’s Michael Barlow, the bloke who waltzes around the footy field collecting 30 every week.
The point is, there’s a player in every team who Judd could play on.
When Ken Hinkley arrived at Port Adelaide, Cornes was worried about his position in the team. At the first meeting of coach and player, Hinkley famously said he was there not to end Cornes’ career, but to try extend it.
Surely, the same thinking should be applied to Judd.
Originally published as Carlton must rejuvenate its list, but champ Chris Judd should be encouraged to play on, writes Mark Robinson
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