by Sam Coulson, former ACS Journalism Scholar
Members and guests of the Australian Cricket Society were pleased to welcome Chris Judd to their recent event held at William Angliss in the city.
Judd reflected on his sporting journey which was not just limited to AFL, Judd also enjoyed cricket and athletics, winning the Under 17’s 1500m title in 1999.
A part of the ‘super draft’ in 2001, Judd was drafted to the West Coast Eagles at pick three where he would play 134 games, captain their winning Premiership side in 2006 and pick up multiple achievements such as a Norm Smith medal, Brownlow medal and MVP to name a few.
Judd was surprised when his name was read out by West Coast, as he reflected on his first encounter with the Eagles in which he told he told coach John Worsfold, “don’t draft me ill leave after two years.”
Naturally the Eagles drafted him anyway and he would go on to have a stellar career with West Coast before deciding to move home to Melbourne.
When he decided to come home the clubs he had to pick from where Collingwood, Melbourne, Carlton, and Essendon.
He decided to join Carlton in one of the most seismic trade moments ever.
In just his third year at the Blues he would win his second Brownlow Medal, becoming the first player in the medals history to twice poll 30 or more in a season.
Post football Judd tried his hand at football management which he mentioned felt right at the start but towards the end he wanted to get involved in the business sector.
He is currently the director and portfolio manager of the Cerutty Macro Fund which currently boasts a healthy return on investment of around 14.5%.
Judd touched on his recent cricketing story from when he was playing 4th grade cricket with his son Oscar and after attempting to make a quick single he tore his left hamstring.
Judd, who was accustomed to waving to the bench for assistance during his AFL career was left to hobble himself off after his wave to the bench was met with laughter.
We thank Chris Judd for his giving up his time to speak to members of the ACS and reflecting on his illustrious career.