SACKED podcast 2024: Daniel Harford on the ‘horrendous’ spray from former coach Ken Judge that still gives him nightmares

In the latest SACKED podcast episode, former Hawk Daniel Harford remembers the withering spray from coach Ken Judge that still gives him nightmares and how he’s used it since.

Ken Judge Daniel Harford 1999 3

Sacked Carlton AFLW coach Daniel Harford says his positive attitude to players as a senior coach was shaped by the brutal spray from Hawthorn coach Ken Judge that still gives him “nightmares” to this day.

Harford has opened up on the Sacked podcast about the savage spray in mid-1997 as the young and brash Hawthorn top 10 draft pick was attempting to find his way in football, albeit with a self-confessed healthy ego.

Judge was a beloved figure but with a penchant for withering assessments of his players in his six years coaching the Hawks and West Coast before passing away in 2016 at the age of 58 after a long battle with cancer.

The Hawks lost that 1997 clash with Adelaide by 14 points as Tony Modra kicked 5.4 with Harford amassing 27 possessions but caught in the sights of his coach in the post-match address.

“No word of a lie, I have nightmares about this. It was a game at Waverley playing Adelaide. I’ll never forget it, and it’s very important in my coaching career this spray that I copped, because I would never, ever do that to anyone in my life, let alone one of my players,” he said.

Daniel Harford getting some honest feedback from former coach Ken Judge in 1999.

“We lost the game to Adelaide late, Modra kicks a goal late from a stoppage at centre half back for us, and the game was over, so we come in flat, we lose.

“And through the team meeting in the coaches room, it was me, according to him, it was me. So I’m sitting there, front left, as always. And as dad had always said, when you’re getting any sort of feedback, look the person in the eye and just acknowledge that they’re talking to you.

“So I did all that, and he just gave it to me, it’s probably five minutes. It felt like two hours. It was just horrendous. And he just came out with everything he had, everything he had … My family, my character, how arrogant I was. He didn’t miss, he did not miss, and it just kept going.

“You feel the players around you just starting to think, ‘mate, that’s bad enough’. You could feel the tension in the room. And I just sat there, copping it for five minutes, devastated by what was happening.

“And I couldn’t say a word, because I actually didn’t know if it was me or not. I had no idea if it was my fault or not, and if it had been.

“It was horrendous, and I’ll never forget it, and I still have nightmares about every now and then it’ll pop up. That’s true. I do. It’s shocking.

Daniel Harford maintained a positive message to his players as Carlton AFLW coach - inspired by how bad a Ken Judge spray made him feel. Picture: Jonathan DiMaggio/Getty Images

“And I came out of the room and I remember Ray Jencke came up and gave me a bit of a headlock, and he ruffled my head, and said ‘Don’t worry mate, we’ll get you through.’ I will never forget that because the world had ended for me. I was just a kid.

“Never in my life would I ever do that. It affected me for a long time playing, but also just my relationship with him clearly.

“He always wanted to push me, because he thought I had talent, and he wanted me to be a great player. I knew that. But how you go about that sometimes is a challenge. That was a bad day, that one.”

Originally published as SACKED podcast 2024: Daniel Harford on the ‘horrendous’ spray from former coach Ken Judge that still gives him nightmares