Former Carlton captain and three-time Premiership player Mark Maclure has predicted that Chris Judd’s durability will take him beyond 2014, quite possibly in a revised on-field role.
Judd this week re-signed with the club for the 2014 season. But Maclure, speaking to Andrew Maher in the latest episode of The Blue Print, said the Blues’ Brownlow Medallist and triple best and fairest would continue to prove his worth, as he had done over the past six seasons since his much-heralded signing in late 2007.
“He (Judd) has been terrific, no doubt about that,” Maclure said. “He’s paid his way with loads of stuff . . . he’s trained our guys on how to play football and how to manage themselves . . . they (the other players) never had that experience before and now they’ve got it.
“He’ll play forward. He’ll push forward at times, they’ll open up the whole forward line and leave him on his own, and would you like to play on him that day? No you wouldn’t and no-one else would either. There are lots of things they can do with him and there’s longevity to him as well.”
Maclure and Maher canvassed a number of topics including;
• the one-match penalty incurred by Jarrad Waite and the importance of his on-field presence to the team;
• the potency of the “swarming” forwards Eddie Betts, Jeff Garlett and Chris Yarran; and
• the solidity of the back half with the presence of Lachie Henderson and Simon White