MPH78 wrote:
The fact that this can now be seriously debated can only mean good things for the club.
Exactly MPH and the reason I suspect Rexy started this thread.
Twelve months ago the question would have been plainly ridiculous
The fact that we can now consider Murph anywhere close to Judd is a testimony to how far the team and the younger brigade (particularly Murph) have come. It is all good.
For mine, Juddy still stands head and shoulders above anyone else, not just for the "impact on game" factor but also the "degree of difficulty" factor. (like Olympic diving). I would go so far as to say that Juddy has probably received more scrutiny and planning around negating him than any player in the history of the game. We all know defensive tactics around the ball have improved exponentially in the last year or two. Up until recently there was no player in the AFL considered more important to his teams chances of success. Paul Roos wrote a very interesting piece during the year about the degree to which the Sydney Swans put effort into stopping the great man. Not just about how to man him up at centre clearances and other stoppages, but about how to close down his space if he did win possession at the centre bounces, by pushing up half forwards onto the edge of the centre square and run at him in waves. The detail was mind blowing. And he was talking about 2010 tactics. Hawthorn and West Coast took this to another level in 2011.
The fact that Juddy has continued to thrive and was a deserving Brownlow favourite in 2011 despite incredible defensive attention speaks to his prowess. Admittedly his finals series was disappointing, but lets not get too short sighted about his year overall. Remember Murph missed a couple of crucial chances in the West Coast game that great players should take, but I wouldnt want to diminish his B&F year on this basis either.
Murph is starting to get serious negative attention and handling it well, but lets not kid ourselves that he is currently functioning under anywhere near the same duress as Judd.
Of course the good news story is that if our midfield group continue to develop as they have then others will start to get some of this attention and this will free Juddy up. No side can group tag and block three of four genuine midfield stars at the same time. All the more reason that Bryce should play in the midfield this year.
As an aside, my wife and I sat at the next table to Jeff Gieshen and his wife for breakfast at a cafe this morning. As we were placing our orders I made a friendly off hand comment to him that he must have the hardest job in football, especially from a PR standpoint. But I just couldnt resist a parting comment to him about illegal holding and blocking off the ball at stoppages, and how I hoped the umpires would take a serious look at how Chris Judd in particular was negated at centre bounces and how I hoped this would be looked at for 2012. He must hate this shit but I couldnt help myself.
Wouldnt it be great in the very near future that we were talking about several of our stars in the same breath. Not far away.
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