Rd 12 Photo Gallery
Click Here

CARLTON coach Brett Ratten has confirmed superstar skipper Chris Judd suffered a badly broken nose after colliding with teammate Steven Browne against St Kilda at Docklands on Friday night.

Judd clashed heads with Browne six minutes into the second half and was forced from the ground at least three times because of the injury.

The champion ended up looking like an Egyptian mummy due to the amount of tape wrapped around his head.

Ratten spoke about Judd's injury after Carlton's gallant nine-point loss.

"He got a broken nose and it just kept bleeding, so it took a bit to stop," he said.

"He kept coming off a fair bit and we just couldn't stop it, so that's a part of the game and they're the rules. It's for the safety of other players and it's the right call.

"We wished we could've stopped it bleeding, but we couldn't, so we had to play someone else in the middle and give them more game time, like a [Shaun] Grigg, who I thought played pretty well and [Bryce] Gibbs, who was outstanding."

Ratten also gave a special mention to youngster Aaron Joseph (19).

"His season [and] his last month, has just been outstanding for what he's done on some big-name players," he said.

"Even tonight, he actually won a fair bit of the ball and he isn't just a tagger – he can actually legitimately play.

"Sometimes some of the people that actually have to do a negating job for the team, actually cop a bit of press going the other way – that they can't play the game or struggle to play the game.

"He had 19 and he did a really good job for us and sometimes some of the players who play those roles have to live with that, which I think is very unfair."

Ratten also acknowledged the efforts of young defender Mark Austin, who was a late replacement for the injured Bret Thornton, who is expected to return in round 13.

"Bret should be right for the Essendon game. He just had a slight hamstring and we took the precautionary option, knowing that we had the break," he said.

"If he did do it this week, he would've missed the Essendon game, so he'll be fine with that."