Juddy Has Left the Nest

This week is sure turning into footy week on my blog.....

I was sad and disappointed to hear about Chris Judd's departure from the Eagles. He has been a great player and captain but it's obviously time for him to move on.

All of those people whingeing and abusing him should seriously get a life. He hasn't let you down. He can't please everybody. That's what happen when people turn someone into a god....they will disappoint you because they're not God.

I get annoyed when players leave clubs who have put a lot of time and effort into them because they're being offered more money elsewhere. That's disloyal. But if Judd's telling the truth about family being the sole reason he wants to go home to Melbourne, then that's not disloyalty. It's not like the Eagles couldn't offer him plenty of money.

Of course, you never really know how much truth is told at press conferences. I'm sure Judd has noble reasons for going. But didn't old Micky Malthouse say he was returning to Melbourne because of his sick mother-in-law or something? Like he was going to admit that Eddie Everywhere flashed the cash and he was goooorrrne.

There are other rumours floating around that he's leaving so Rebecca Twigley can further her career or he's sick of the Eagles' problems. People can speculate all they like. But the truth is we'll never know....

Now Judd is saying that he actually made the decision to return after the 2005 season, he is being slammed for being sneaky for taking the captaincy when he knew all along he was leaving. But he did the right thing. He chose to focus on the Eagles, rather than distract everyone with news he was leaving months before he actually did. Right now, I'm doing the exact same thing. I'm planning to finish my job in March so I'll probably resign in January. The reason is that I'm leaving Perth (I'll blog about that later). So is that disloyal because I haven't told my workmates even though I've made my decision? What's the point of telling them now? It'd only make them think I'm not committed to my job right now. I'll give them enough notice so they can find a replacement. They gave me a chance by giving me my first job after uni but it's not disloyal to leave. I'm grateful to them (like Judd says he is to the Eagles) but it's time to move on.

I don't think it's selfish that the Eagles are wanting to be adequately compensated. They drafted him when a lot of other clubs didn't want to take a chance on him because of his shoulder problems. The Dorkers could have taken him but they chose to stick to their history of ridiculous draft choices and trade their No. 1 pick to Hawthorn for Trent Croad...who is now back at Hawthorn. If greedy Melbourne clubs want him so badly and consider him the league's best player then they can cough up. A couple of high draft picks and a handy player should do it. And no, we don't want Fevola. Like we need any more players with off-field behaviour problems.

It's far more disappointing losing Judd than it was losing the semi-final the other night. But the Eagles have plenty of talented players who can prove that they can win without Judd. If slummy clubs like Carlton or Richmond think that getting Judd will make them premiership contenders they can think again. It's a team game. Judd is very very good but he also had a lot of talented teammates around to make him look even better.

I don't think I can watch a replay of the 2006 Grand Final now. I can't even look at the Eagles poster next to my desk. And I'll feel sick watching him run around playing for the jolly Vics.

Bye Juddy. Thanks for everything. But we're still gonna tackle ya to the ground next season.

* Photo is from http://theaflblog.com