Gibbo

Just bought the paper - trying to find the article now.

If he goes to Collingwood do you reckon it will go down well?

Only if you believe Sportsbet are on the money - dude there told me indirectly it would be tomorrow, but he might have meant that stuff on Channel 7 tonight?? All very confusing.

Mate by all rights Melbourne shouldn't even be in the running - the fact that it is and the fact that its the persistent rumour despite the Sheehan logic that usually proves right gives me heart. Ive heard it from a few sources, one which I respect. And he reckons he heard it practically from the horse's mouth. If he goes to COllingwood he'll just be part of the COllingwood machine with eddie dribbling all over him all day long - even with all the facilities in the world dont rate Collingwood's premiership chances on one season alone - a lot of good teams just under performed this year for mine... If its not true why are there so many rumours - If I was Judd Id get on the net and check which group of fans wants him the most. The last post on one Collingwood forum about Judd was posted at 6pm! meanwhile Im having anxiety attacks similar to those the moment Green went down on that fateful day in 2000...

Would they have annouced Sumich as assistant coach there today if Sumich was part of the package for him to go to Carlton??

God I hope so and its good night from me as well - fingers crossed as I sleep - and toes!

Yeah mate I sat down with a spreadsheet and nutted out a few pie graphs utilising various formulatic structures... I meant that the volume of rumours going around on various websites has helped convinced me that melbourne seem to be the only club being talked about. Thats it - nothing as profound as a thesis or anything...

Spill in public - i wont tell a soul. Its bed time for me - as if im gonna sleep! Judd dreams all night. Its the wait that makes it hard!

Exactly - where are the trade rumours from Collingwood? Zilch from a team that rarely keeps any secrets... Only other trade news I heard was Essendon wanting to offer Sumich a position with Judd onboard. Sumich named at Carlton means thats off the tables.

Every rumour - every one of the claims of inside info all point one way. Go to the Collingwood forums or Carlton and all you see are melbourne and sydney supports arguing about whether Travis Johnstone is worth the pick - not whether he is going to melbourne or Collingwood. One thing that has really annoyed me about this whole saga either way is how some reporters suggest that melbourne as the 'worst list out of all four teams contending.' - what a joke - we have one bad year the result of massive injuries and we are worse than Carlton and Essendon list wise - madness. THis time last year when we had recently cained the likes of Collingwood (again) and then the saints in that final of finals people accepted the fact that in terms of finals appearances in teh last ten years our team is ranked second in the AFL> My advice, but out those articles and then send them to the author this time next year if we get Buchanan, Meeson and the prodigal son returned - Number 3!

Yeah that's what i was thinking - the story and the fact it was exclusively on Channel 7 speaks volumes. Well at least I hope it does

But I am Chris Judd Senior. And Im glad your so keen for my son. Nah in all seriousness all the Collingwood and Carlton threads think that his coming out way too - its weird.

When I rang sportsbet they told me they had suspending taking bets on Judd because they had been told that his announcement was pending. I reckon it also might have had something to do with the fact that there are persist rumours that Melbourne have already negotiated a three-way trade for him - or because there was a huge dump of money on Collingwood today that put them out as favourites before betting was suspended Guy at Sportsbet wasnt sure exactly when the announcement would be - but I got the feeling it was as soon as tomorrow morning from the guy. And he laughed when I asked him if they'd actually heard where it might be. (He said it was anybodies guess)

Why do you say that? It could turn out like Ackermanis - we might not get him and be thankful - who knows... It would be very exciting if it is all true. Can someone ring up his parents already?

And Ive just been talking to two people who reckon there is still something to the Melbourne rumours. Enough to freeze up Sportsbet anyway. Ian Johnson runs Channel 7 - he is instrumental in offering Twigley a job at seven. ANd what better way to feather both your channel and your footy team than to get the player and break the news first on your sports news? The fact its on Channel 7 makes me quietly confident that its done and dusted. Sumich to the Blues means that Essendon are definately out.

Check it out - Ian Johnson - current head honcho at Channel 7 and ex-director of the Melbourne Demons has apparently offered Twigley a job presenting or reporting on Channel 7. That is an Eddie Maguire trick if ever Ive heard one - then the combo classic - break the news of the deal the night before its announcement on your channel news - boost ratings, gets the mozz on Channel nine, eddie and Collingwood - and at the same time makes Dylan Howard look good. Why would Sportsbet really have stopped betting? Two reasons - either they think all the rumours about the demons are true or they think the odds for Collingwood were too low to be sustainable. Im confident now Ive done the maths, done some research on the shear volume of rumours. And lastly, think about it this way: His a player who was passionate about the Demons. He has done all that he needs to do to be very wealthy and he has tasted a premiership victory. If you were a player who had - at the age of 24 - accomplished that much, would you be thinking about the dollars still or would you be thinking about what your heart wants? At the end of the day not many players get the chance to play for the team they love - unless he is a machine that is completely money mad, the fact that Melbourne was his team as a kid is a VERY important factor for mine. What better way than to return to a side you love, help build it up to a premiership - ultimate career glory for mine!

Essendon were gonna try and do the Sumich/Judd combo - the fact they didnt and his gone to Carlton demonstrates for my mind that Judd has either gone to Melbourne or Collingwood.

Word at Geelong in the crowd was that Judd was ours. Probably the least reputable source, but combined with Hanson's parents, Huddo and BT and the Perth radio keeps us in good stead. It really depends on who you listen to - certain reports have been behind melbourne, others behind collingwood even as our odds improved dramatically. Other than one guy here, no one else has just come out randomly saying 'mark my words, his a demon.' _i ve seriously read that five times now. Im still confident - but confident in a way that only a melbourne supporter could be (not really confident at all, heart break is our bread and butter)

Yeah when i spoke to Michael - when he realised i was calling about Judd he got a bit short with me - i get the feeling they're over being hassled about it.

'Can you elaborate ? Smith, Sheehan, Wilson, Robinson have been on the Pies for over a week. What has changed today ?' Really? My reading was that while Sheehan suggested Judd preferred Collingwood, West Coast werent happy about trading with them because they dont have any draft picks. That was in his article in the HUN during the week. Yesterday Huddo said he had heard it was Melbourne, and Brian Taylor has been on te Dees for days. Top that with the stuff coming off Perth radio regarding the Rivers trade then Id say that there was still a lot of media interest in the Dees as well. And remember that Huddo was the first to pick Bailey as the front runner for our coaching days before it was decided.

LOL - this morning someone told me that he was a definate dee - I know which one I want to believe Will know this time tomorrow.

At 12 today Melbourne were $1.70 - but since then all the media has been on the Woodies. Sadly I think BT and Huddo were wrong...

Michael at Sportsbet said they havent been taking money on Judd for over an hour at 5:05pm today.

You serious? I rang them and they had stopped - Ill ring them again now.

GOod advice - can you guys edit your quote of my post - I didnt realise we were talking about THAT... see ya!