Chris Judd retires: 10 things you didn’t know about the Eagles and Blues champ
A SHEEP wore Judd’s number, his mum wrote a song about him and he was pipped by Brad Pitt in a “peachiest” backside survey. It gets weirder.
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A SHEEP tribute, a “peachy” behind and an AFL jumper investigation — here are 10 things you didn’t know about retired champ Chris Judd.
1. When he signed with Carlton in 2007, a sheep was found strolling around Princes Park with “No. 5” and the words “rock star” painted on it. It turned out that two young blokes from Bendigo, who were driving down to Melbourne, stopped off when they saw a “sheep for sale’’ sign at Craigieburn, bought the ewe and got to work with a paint brush. The sheep was eventually was rescued by Melbourne Zoo staff and two vets.
2. As a Sandringham junior, Judd was coached by former St Kilda president Rod Butterss from under-nines through to under-11s. “He was incredibly speedy and self-assured even in those days,” Butterss recalled. “He wasn’t a great kick and his hands were not great either, but I fixed that,” he chuckled. At the age of 11 Judd kicked 15 goals for St Leonard’s against Westbourne Grammar, playing as a ruck-rover.
3. A decade ago Judd’s mother, Lisa Engel, wrote and recorded a song about her son called The Backyard Champion. “It’s not really meant to be a song about a boy growing up from backyard footy to winning the Brownlow Medal,” Ms Engel said in 2005. “It’s really a song that most mothers would relate to, and anyone who loves football and has children who play sport. That time passes so quickly.’’
4. Early in his career, Judd shared a house with West Coast teammate Daniel Kerr. In a 2003 interview the pair revealed that not only did they never read the newspaper, they also did not have free-to-air television, Judd said they deliberately avoided getting an antenna connected, and the only time they turn on their TV was to tune into Foxtel’s music channels.
5. Two years later, when Judd had moved into a house with then girlfriend Rebecca Twigley, he woke to find that someone had been loitering the front garden. For some strange reason the person had swapped the number plates on Judd and Twigley’s cars.
6. While at West Coast, Judd had a Victorian racing greyhound named after him. Unfortunately “Juddy” had trouble with his, ahem, tackle, while racing around bends. The problem prompted his trainer, Darren McDonald, to send the greyhound in for surgery to remove a testicle.
7. When Marc Murphy joined Carlton a decade ago he requested the No. 3 jumper: in part because his Oakleigh Chargers coach Rohan Welsh wore the number for the Blues, but more so because Murphy’s favourite player was the Eagles’ No. 3, Chris Judd.
8. In 2008 Judd was the centre of an AFL investigation for wearing the wrong jumper in a Saturday night match against Essendon. Judd had an Optus logo on the back of his jumper and a Hyundai logo on the front, while his 21 teammates’ jumpers had the opposite setup. It turns out he was wearing a “home’’ Guernsey, while the others were wearing the away strip.
9. In 2010, an iced tea company surveyed 1000 Australians to find out which male celebrities had the “peachiest” behind. Actor Brad Pitt won, while Socceroos Harry Kewell was the highest placed Australian at No.5. Judd finished sixth.
10. Judd, Fremantle skipper Matthew Pavlich and football commentator were part owners of a racehorse called Cefalu, whose 50-race career included causing a major boilover at Moonee Valley’s 2008 grand final eve meeting. The Chilean stayer won the Valley’s main event, the 2040m JRA Cup, at the tasty odds of $101. Pavlich conceded he had only had a “small wager” on the nag. As for Judd? “You won’t believe it but I forgot (about the race),” he said at the time, before adding with a grin. “Which is a pity because I could have done with the money.”
Originally published as Chris Judd retires: 10 things you didn’t know about the Eagles and Blues champ
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