Judd-less Eagles better off

IT WAS one of the biggest trades in the game’s history, and it left West Coast shattered. But two years after Chris Judd walked out on the Eagles and joined Carlton, John Worsfold says his club is better off.

Already a premiership captain and Brownlow Medallist, Judd left West Coast in exchange for draft picks three and 20 in the 2007 NAB AFL Draft and emerging forward Josh Kennedy.

The deal didn’t add up at the time, and with Judd instantly made Carlton captain and winning consecutive club best and fairest awards, it seemed the trade was falling the Blues’ way. 

However, early indications are 2010 will be the year Kennedy and Chris Masten, the player West Coast selected with its No.3 pick, come of age, and Worsfold is adamant the Eagles are completing a rejuvenation that would not have been possible with Judd on the list.

“I think it moves everything forward,” Worsfold said. “If Judd stays you might be hovering up in that top eight or top four maybe for a bit longer, and then Judd retires at the same time as (Darren) Glass and (Daniel) Kerr and (Dean) Cox and (Andrew) Embley and you have a big dip.

“Juddy going has meant we’ve had a dip, we’ve still got those other good players there and we’ve added in some really good talent. So it’s given us a chance to build a young group together with some good senior players as well.”

The dip Worsfold refers to, which also followed Ben Cousins’ exit, was a slip from fifth place in 2007 to 15th in 2008 with a mini-recovery in 2009 leaving the club in 11th place. The fall to 15th effectively delivered ruck prodigy Nic Naitanui to the club.

Carlton, with Judd onboard, jumped from 15th in 2007 to 11th in 2008 and played finals for the first time in eight years in 2009. But as Worsfold explains, West Coast did the deal with an eye on the long term.
 
“Carlton’s pay-off for getting Judd was going to be more immediate than our pay-off for Kennedy, Masten and Tony Notte,” the coach said.

“So it would always look immediately that Carlton has got a good deal. We were pretty confident with the deal we were getting.

“We got two high draft picks in a good year and then we’ve had two down years. So in effect we’ve had three years of really high draft picks, which is a real bonus.”

Kennedy, the fourth player picked at the 2005 draft, battled injury in his first year at West Coast and was made to find form in the WAFL for the early stages of 2009. Nonetheless, the 22-year-old was voted into West Coast’s leadership group for this season.   

“The fact that Josh is in our leadership group shows the players really respect his character and how he’s going about things,” Worsfold said. “The match committee saw it very similarly.

“With his age and where he’s at now, he’s ready to play centre half-forward for us. He’s grabbed that spot, he’s made it his own, so we just want him to go out there and do his stuff every week.”

Headed by Kennedy and Masten, West Coast has a stockpile of talented youngsters yet to play 50 games. Worsfold says they’re an outside chance to play finals in 2010, but bigger things await once the core group has played 70-80 games. 

“The team potential will be at its best then,” he said.

“I think there’s a big group of younger players at this club that should play together for 10 years.

“That’s probably what makes it feel special. That’s when you start to say they should have some success together.”