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West Coast forward Josh Kennedy justified his position as one of the league’s star forwards with a dominant 11-goal haul against Greater Western Sydney on Sunday.
There is no doubt that Kennedy’s football has progressed in leaps and bounds since being traded to the Eagles during the 2007 trade period.
But seven years on from one of the most publicised trades in AFL history, was Carlton within its rights to trade away the promising young forward?
I talk of course of the Chris Judd trade, who at the time was undoubtedly the game’s hottest talent.
When Judd announced he would be seeking a move back to Victoria, clubs threw just about anything at the Eagles to try and lure the superstar midfielder.
And who could blame them? Judd was in the prime of his career and possessed a football resume matched by very few.
Some pundits had even gone as far to suggest he was one of the modern game’s best ever midfielders and he was an integral part of the dominant West Coach engine room that also included Ben Cousins and Daniel Kerr.
Carlton traded Josh Kennedy, selection three and selection 20 in return for Judd and selection 46.
West Coast picked Chris Masten and Tony Notte in the draft while the Blues went for Western Australian Dennis Armfield.
While Notte failed to make the grade at the highest level, Masten is now one of the Eagles’ most consistent midfielders and a key player in their side.
Kennedy straightens the Eagles up in attack and is possibly in their top couple of most important players at the club.
An important thing to remember is that the Blues did not lack any firepower at the time of the trade, with Brendan Fevola being close to the best forward in the competition.
Dennis Armfield has had a serviceable career to date and has probably exceeded expectations from what you would like from a selection 46.
It was a lot for the Blues to give up and many suggested that for the trade to be worthwhile, Judd’s recruitment needed to deliver them a premiership.
With an ageing list, Carlton do not look like winning a flag anytime soon.
But it takes many factors and an element of luck to win a premiership so it would be too simplistic to measure a trade’s worth by that.
Judd not only improved Carlton on the field but he added professionalism and was a strong role model for other young midfielders, like Marc Murphy and Bryce Gibbs, to learn from.
But with Judd approaching the twilight of his career, how will the trade be judged in hindsight?
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