Demons and Essendon out of race

ESSENDON and Melbourne are out of the running for AFL star Chris Judd, leaving the AFL's oldest foes to compete for the superstar midfield player.

That leaves just Carlton and Collingwood, amid ongoing speculation that the Magpies are the favourites to secure Judd who is looking to switch from West Coast to a club in his home state Victoria.

The Demons issued a statement on their website and sources at Essendon also confirmed the contact today from Judd's management ruling them out.

"Chris' management advised us this morning that Chris had been somewhat surprised by the quality of our club presentation and strategies, and it was a difficult decision," Melbourne chief executive Steve Harris said.

"However the club's training facilities at Junction Oval and the need to train at a variety of grounds over summer was an issue.

"It's well known that new state of the art facilities are due for completion at Olympic Park within two years, but we do have this comparative disadvantage."

Judd will make his final choice this week, ahead of the trade period next week.

The 2004 Brownlow medal winner preferred club must broker a deal with his former club, West Coast.

Judd announced last month he would leave the Eagles to return to his home state of Victoria.

Huddo and BT your full of shizen...