Judd credits Malthouse for helping continue AFL career

[Ricochet]

http://m.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/chris-judd-credits-mick-malthouse-for-helping-carlton-veteran-continue-afl-career/story-fni5f22o-1227205880534

CARLTON star Chris Judd says coach Michael Malthouse helped him rediscover his love of the game after he had become “worn out with footy”.

Judd revealed he was suffering football fatigue as early as 2012, but said Malthouse’s appointment and the subsequent move to relinquish the captaincy to Marc Murphy had extended his career.

In an exclusive interview, the champion midfielder detailed the circumstances surrounding his decision to retire at the end of last season, and then sensationally junk those plans as the team’s performance improved.

Judd said the man who will become the longest-serving AFL/VFL coach in Round 5 had played a fundamental role in his decision to keep playing over the past three years.

“When (Malthouse) first came along he probably saw that I was a bit worn out with footy,” Judd said.

“And one of the main things he wanted me to do was really have fun and really rediscover my fun in playing footy.

“So, I probably just stopped the amount of time I spent thinking about it (football) and seeing that, yeah, you can’t really control everything.

“Relinquishing the captaincy was a big chance for me to get back to playing footy and not concern myself with the bigger issues at the club and that was something I needed to do.”

Judd, 31, has enjoyed his first surgery-free post-season in five years and said the back end of last season was the first time he believed all of the Blues “were really hungry to win and give their all”.

The 271-gamer said he was moving quicker than he has for several years and did not rule out playing again next season in pursuit of a Carlton premiership.

Judd threw his full support behind the aggressive strategy that has seen the Blues replace half of the list in two years, including controversial calls to delist Mitch Robinson and Jeff Garlett and first-round draft picks Josh Bootsma and Kane Lucas.

Judd said Malthouse, who is out of contract at the end of the season, was the man to take the club in a new direction.

“Mick has got a lot of really good abilities and one of those is to build a list and to work out which players are what they say they are and which ones have an element of fraud to them,’ Judd said.

“And I think he probably does that quicker than anyone I have come across and that is probably because when you have coached for 40 years, the personalities are all the same, they just keep repeating themselves and you can certainly call on that experience.

“That is of significant benefit for our footy club to have someone to be able to call these things pretty quickly.”

[RiOtChEsS]

really good, shows Mick hasnt lost his ability to manage different personalities, as with every year, our hopes r high #CarnTheBlues