Carlton Supporters Club

INJURED Carlton veteran Chris Judd admits his body is paying the price for his ferocious appetite for hard work earlier in his career.

However, Judd insists he doesn’t regret it, paraphrasing Neil Young’s line - “I’d prefer to just burn out than fade away”.

The 30-year-old had surgery on his Achilles in the pre-season and missed the Blues' opening four rounds of the season.

Judd started the round five clash against the Bulldogs in the substitutes' vest and lasted just six minutes after injuring his hamstring in the third quarter.

Judd, who started his career at West Coast after being drafted at No.3, said his issues were probably caused by pushing himself too hard when he was young.

"When I was a really young bloke, I made the connection that the harder I worked, the better I got," Judd told SEN Radio on Friday night.

"I just smashed myself in how I trained and the amount of extra [work] I did; looking back I was a bit ridiculous and certainly I've paid the cost in the second half of my career.

"If I had my time over I still wouldn't do it too much differently. I'd prefer to just burn out than fade away and not have a good crack at it."

Judd trained seven days a week in his six years at the Eagles, using his days off to do extra 400m sprints to ensure he was in peak physical condition.

It paid off as he took the League by storm, winning a premiership, Brownlow Medal, Norm Smith and two best and fairests within his first five seasons.

Judd, who is out of contract at the end of the season, is still at least four weeks away from a return and
he conceded his body faces many challenges to make it through his 13th season.

Judd also refuses to make a decision on his playing future just yet.

"I haven't looked that far ahead," Judd said.

"I've played five minutes of football this season. It would be stupid to look any further than the next five or six weeks really.

"I've got some big challenges, I'm really keen to get back out there and make a contribution and then I guess I'll sit down with the club at the end of the year and work through that."

Judd conceded he faced many obstacles to get his body fit and injury-free, but said he still believed he could make a significant contribution to the Blues this season.

"It's a challenge but it's been unexceptional circumstances," Judd said.

"We all come into the game and if we're lucky enough to still be playing it by the age of 30 … our body will probably be facing some challenges.

"There's a few notable exceptions, but that's the way modern sport is. I'm lucky enough that I've been able to play this long, and hopefully there's still some good games left in me yet."

CARLTON can defy the growing band of doomsayers and win a flag within the next four seasons, star defender Andrew Walker says.

Walker signalled his confidence in the Blues' long-term future when he re-signed in February for three more years, tying himself to Visy Park to the end of 2017.

The 27-year-old could have explored free agency at the end of this season, but he told AFL.com.au on Wednesday he had no hesitation in sticking with Carlton.

Asked whether the Blues could win a premiership before his new contract expired, Walker was emphatic.

"Absolutely," he said.

"We haven't got off to the best start, 0-3 isn't where we want to be.

"Last year, we started 0-3 and got ourselves into the finals and were really competitive until we played the Sydney Swans up there.

"We've got some of the most exciting young kids coming through at the club and (they are) really willing to learn off us older guys – guys like Blaine Johnson and Patrick Cripps, just to name a few."

The Blues have been savaged in the media following their 81-point capitulation to Essendon on Sunday night, with many commentators concluding Carlton's list is in need of a drastic overhaul.

Walker freely conceded the Blues "didn't turn up to play" against the Bombers, but said they had been competitive in the opening two rounds against Port Adelaide and Richmond.

In fact, Walker believes Carlton played "top-four football" in patches against the Power and Tigers, with their challenge now to replicate that form more regularly.

The speedy defender missed the Richmond game after being suspended for one week for throwing Port forward Angus Monfries into the fence after tackling him near the boundary line.

"I'm in the leadership group and it was extremely undisciplined of me. I copped the one week and deservedly so," Walker said.

"That's something that I don't think is a part of my game, I just had a bit of a brain fade.

"Angus is a small forward and he can get inside people's heads and I'm a competitive defender. At the end of the day, it was probably just my competitive nature coming out.

"The biggest thing that comes out of it is that you miss a big game (against Richmond) and it was a big game that was a close one and I probably could have had an impact.

"So it was disappointing to miss the game."

The Blues have four remaining free agents this year: Bryce Gibbs, Michael Jamison, Jarrad Waite and Heath Scotland.

Gibbs' situation is the most interesting. The South Australian has been widely linked to Adelaide and has sought details from Carlton on its list management strategies before making a decision on his future.

But Walker was "extremely confident" Gibbs would follow the lead set this year by him, Marc Murphy and Kade Simpson and turn his back on free agency.

"(Bryce) joined the leadership group this year so, if that's any indication of his commitment to the club, I think it's pretty positive," Walker said.

"He's a vital part of our future."

CARLTON can defy the growing band of doomsayers and win a flag within the next four seasons, star defender Andrew Walker says.

Walker signalled his confidence in the Blues' long-term future when he re-signed in February for three more years, tying himself to Visy Park to the end of 2017.

The 27-year-old could have explored free agency at the end of this season, but he told AFL.com.au on Wednesday he had no hesitation in sticking with Carlton.

Asked whether the Blues could win a premiership before his new contract expired, Walker was emphatic.

"Absolutely," he said.

Walker freely conceded the Blues "didn't turn up to play" against the Bombers, but said they had been competitive in the opening two rounds against Port Adelaide and Richmond.

In fact, Walker believes Carlton played "top-four football" in patches against the Power and Tigers, with their challenge now to replicate that form more regularly.

The speedy defender missed the Richmond game after being suspended for one week for throwing Port forward Angus Monfries into the fence after tackling him near the boundary line.

"I'm in the leadership group and it was extremely undisciplined of me. I copped the one week and deservedly so," Walker said.

"That's something that I don't think is a part of my game, I just had a bit of a brain fade.

"Angus is a small forward and he can get inside people's heads and I'm a competitive defender. At the end of the day, it was probably just my competitive nature coming out.

"The biggest thing that comes out of it is that you miss a big game (against Richmond) and it was a big game that was a close one and I probably could have had an impact.

"So it was disappointing to miss the game."

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MICK Malthouse has highlighted a 25 per cent player turnover as the key component in a ladder ascent for Carlton next year.
Malthouse said from Arizona yesterday that the Blues would field a vastly more flexible outfit next year.
Recruits Dale Thomas and Andrejs Everitt who would help release players such as Andrew Walker, Chris Yarran and Simon White to forward roles when required.

"There is a public viewpoint that looks at Chris Yarran as if he is 26-27, when he's still just 22. He has the ability to break games apart and that's what I love about him. So we will play him very much at both ends of the ground," Malthouse said.

He readily admits the game style he arrived with Collingwood wasn't appropriate to the Carlton list so changes were made early on.

"You can't be pig-headed and stick with a game structure that suited Collingwood and took years to develop. I thought I could bring that to Carlton but after four-five weeks in concluded it wasn't working," said Malthouse.

"So I started to look at what was working and what wasn't working, to fit in with the capabilities of the players in my squad."