Chris Judd is a superb footballer, a fitting ambassador for this great game, and a great role model for young up-and-comers.
Whether or not he deserves this praise in the shadow of his most recent, albeit rare, on-field indiscretion will be debated for a little while yet.
In my opinion, Juddy will remain all three, but he is rapidly running out of chances. He has faced the music for his latest ‘brain fade’, and rightly so.
After a marathon hearing, the AFL tribunal last night found Judd guilty of intentional misconduct, handing down 450 penalty points, equaling a four-week ban.
The Carlton skipper must now watch on from the sidelines, as his side takes on the Western Bulldogs, Richmond, Sydney and Brisbane without him. Considering Carlton’s ladder position, these next games will be do-or-die clashes for the Blues. If there was ever a time that this club needed their skipper, it’s now.
But, instead of the number five jumper, Judd is dressed in a suit and tie, and all because of a negligent, unnecessary and malicious act.
I think the word everyone is looking for is stupidity.
Does the penalty fit the crime? Of course it does, and here’s why.
First, I’d like to highlight Judd’s defence.
Grabbing hold of Leigh Adams’ arm in the manner that he did – the infamous act now dubbed the ‘chicken wing’ tackle – Judd was aiming to restrict Adams’ ability to dispose of the ball correctly.
That’s all well and good, but what he failed to realise at the time was that Leigh Adams was already pinned on top of the ball by a tackle made by another Carlton player.
Judd’s inability to focus solely on the ball, and use a cheapish, ‘third-man-in’ tactic in an effort to buy a free-kick was downright reckless. Adams was left unable to defend himself, while Judd stood over him and forcefully dislocated his shoulder.
Judd denies intent, and was remorseful, but that doesn’t shy away from the fact that the ‘chicken wing tackle’ falls well outside the spirit of AFL football.
So much so, there have been calls for Judd to be charged for “besmirching” the image of the game.
While these calls have largely been coming from North Melbourne president James Brayshaw, who may have been speaking with his Roos cap on, he does have a point.
And this isn’t Judd’s first time before the AFL tribunal for an act deemed bizarre: Who can forget the eye-gouging incident in 2007, or the infamous ‘pressure-point’ case in 2009?
Ask any Carlton fan and they will more than likely recall the recent case involving Collingwood’s Sharrod Wellingham and one of their own, Kade Simpson.
“A broken jaw gets three, while a twisted arm cops four,” was the tweet from an aggrieved fan.
These were two totally separate incidents. One you see frequently and is generally deemed in the nature of the contest.
The other was cowardly and has no place in this game.
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