6:52 PM Fri 1 February, 2008 | Back
By Ben Broad, in South Africa
Exclusive to AFL BigPond Network

CHRIS Judd will captain Carlton if asked, although one gets the impression he certainly won’t lose too much sleep if he isn’t, when the Blues decide their leadership for this year.

Frustrated at his long road back to full fitness since leaving West Coast at the end of last season, Judd caught up with afl.com.au at the Blues’ Footy Wild clinic in Johannesburg, and he said leadership wasn’t high on his list of priorities.

“Do I want to captain Carlton? Look, I’d be lying if I came here with a burning desire to captain the footy club,” he said.

“But if the players decided they wanted me to do the job … it’d sort of be a bit of a slap in the face to them to say, you know, ‘Get stuffed’.

“So essentially it’s like the John Howard line, ‘I’ll be here as long as the party needs me’. It’s a bit like that.”

Judd is among a six-man leadership group in contention to lead Carlton in 2008, with many outsiders believing either he or Nick Stevens will earn the coaching panel’s nomination to the board in coming weeks.

Coach Brett Ratten said yesterday he hadn’t spoken to his star recruit about the role. Each member of the Blues’ leadership group will get his chance to show his wares throughout the pre-season.

Judd definitely won’t get his chance either in Saturday’s exhibition match against Fremantle in Pretoria or in the early rounds of the NAB Cup, with the champion onballer struggling to shake off the effects of an adductor injury.

He admitted he hasn’t recovered as quickly as he would have liked.
“It’s been pretty slow to be honest,” he said.

“I thought that by after Christmas I’d be up [to] 100 per cent sort of thing, so it’s been slow but I’m doing everything I can.”

So okay, footy’s not the be-all and end-all. But it’s Thursday night … you walk into the loungeroom and The Footy Show’s on. Do you sit down and watch?
No, I haven’t watched The Footy Show … for a long time.

So what’s the best of the three? If I’m going to put my hard earned on any of them, which one should it be?
If you’re going to steal one, you’d probably go Cef, but I reckon Dynasty … Dynasty’s very raw. You know what I mean? Bit like a [Shaun] Hampson at the minute. We sort of know what we’re going to get from Cef, you know he’s honest, he’ll work hard but Dynasty, there could be a little bit in there. We’ll wait and see.

So okay, footy’s not the be-all and end-all. But it’s Thursday night … you walk into the loungeroom and The Footy Show’s on. Do you sit down and watch?
No, I haven’t watched The Footy Show … for a long time.

Doesn't seem too keen for it. When I hear a bloke say

"I’d be lying if I came here with a burning desire to captain the footy club"

then that probably rules them out in mine eyes. I don't want Judd to feel obligated to captain the team, he has to want it.