The dual-Brownlow medallist, not often a willing participant at such gatherings, appeared relaxed and answered questions thoughtfully and with good humour despite squeezing the press conference in between training and a weights session.
He offered a rare insight into an AFL journey that started at the famous super draft of 2001 and ultimately delivered him to his seat in front of a bank of television cameras in the Blues' lecture theatre.
The walls thrown up by the all-too-often adversarial relationship between sports stars and journalists, while not completely demolished, were at least breached for 15 minutes as Judd shared his thoughts on topics ranging from his early days at West Coast to his impending fatherhood.
The tired clichés, so often the refuge of a bored or uncomfortable footballer, were largely put to one side as one of the game's most decorated players opened up.
"There were certainly times when I was concerned about how it was all going to pan out," Judd replied when asked if he feared for his career when beset by a serious groin injury towards the end of his time with the Eagles.
"But I think if you don't play AFL football, then it's hard to understand the level of anxiety that all players would feel over their bodies at various stages of their careers - that was certainly a challenging time for me.
"But all players would have moments throughout the year when they might wonder if their year is over or if they're going to get up for next week and that's really one of the things you have to deal with as an AFL player."
The groin issue did, of course, clear up, paving the way for his blockbuster move to Carlton at the end of the 2007 season that he still maintains was an incredibly tough decision to make.
He still has fond memories of the club he played 134 games for and captained to a premiership the year after replacing good mate Ben Cousins, whose influence on Judd remains even today.
"I think probably the best lesson I [ever] learned was from Ben Cousins and that was based around taking real ownership of your training," he said.
"Not just having an attitude of coming to the club and getting told what to do, then going away and doing it, but taking some real control over what you want to work on and how you want to prepare for a game.
"When you're out there on the ground, you want to be 100 per cent confident that you've done what you need to and you haven't just followed the instructions of what someone else thinks you need to do to get ready."
Judd still subscribes to the theory today, but admits he's had to move with the times and the limitations imposed by the ever-increasing sports science surrounding the preparation of AFL footballers.
"The formula was really simple when I started playing football," he said.
"You just did the program and then did a stack of extra work on the top and those were the blokes who improved and played good footy.
"The program's so intense now that it's more about being a bit smarter with the extra work you do. You certainly can't go out and do extra running sessions and things like that on top of the training."
Despite the passing years, Judd has remained largely unhindered by injury on his way to three John Nicholls medals, prompting one journalist to ask whether he felt as good over the second hundred games as he had while he worked toward his first century.
"Nah," he replied without a second's hesitation - his honesty sending a ripple of laughter through the room. "But I feel good."
"I've got no complaints, but I'd be lying if I said I'm as spritely as when I had long hair and was living over in the wild west."
On the brink of 200 games at 27 years of age, Judd has bolted ahead of Luke Hodge and Luke Ball, who have managed 173 and 167 games respectively after they were selected ahead of him at the top of the much-heralded draft of 2001.
Reaching such a milestone brings the inevitable query over how long Judd feels he can keep going and it's at that point he changes things up and lets fly with a variant of the most famous cliché of them all.
"I'm just really thinking about next week," he said before quickly explaining himself, perhaps sensing the disappointment of his audience.
"It's one of those silly cliché's that gets used a lot, but the reason it does is because it's pretty accurate for what life's like when you're in a footy season.
"There are so many unpredictable things that can happen between now and Saturday night, let alone between now and three years time. It's probably naïve for me to say how long I want to play for.
"Your mind can't tell your body how you're feeling. You've really got to listen to your body and probably listen to the other cues along the way like how the club's going and what your own personal circumstances are as to how long you play for."
Judd has always seemed ill at ease with the level of public interest in his own set of personal circumstances, but his face brightens when the subject of his impending fatherhood is broached.
He plans to get down 'in the trenches' and is excited by the prospect of being as hands-on a dad as he can be when the time comes.
It's an experience that must have seemed light years away to a wide-eyed Judd as he wandered into the West Coast locker room as a fresh-faced 18-year-old.
"I still remember starting up AFL football and wondering if I'd ever play a single senior game," he said.
"My real strong focus was to just play a senior game so I've been very lucky to play in some really good teams, achieve some success and hopefully we've got one last roll of the dice at this footy club.
"It does feel like a lot of footy, but hopefully there's a bit more left. I certainly feel very excited to be playing at the minute because we think this club's got a pretty good story to tell."
Chris Judd is a $426,600 midfielder in the Toyota AFL Dream Team competition.
