BRISBANE Lions coach Michael Voss said there was no special plan to stop Carlton captain Chris Judd when the sides clash on Saturday night, because most attempts would be futile anyway.
First with West Coast and more recently since crossing to the Blues at the end of 2007, Brownlow Medallist Judd has maintained an enviable record against the Lions.
In Carlton’s upset win at the Gabba in round 21 last year, Judd was best on ground with 35 touches, including 13 in the decisive fourth quarter comeback.
He was again instrumental in round two this season, with 25 disposals and 10 tackles.
But Voss said Judd’s success against the Lions had not been from lack of trying on his team’s part.
"He’s played particularly well against our club but I would have thought that would fall into the category of being a great player and most great players have good records against most clubs," he said.
"He’s clearly had an impact on the Carlton Football Club and you’d expect him to.
"Obviously the way he conducts himself and how he represents his football club is to be admired and I think for us, he’s a key focus when you’re talking about which players you don’t want to have great games.
"You always plan for that but he normally has something to say about that with the competitive attitude he has."
Voss added that the Lions had more than Judd to worry about.
In winning the last two contests between the clubs, Carlton has kicked goals in quick succession through bursts from centre clearances.
Voss said both teams had great running power, good midfields and good goalkicking forwards – making for exciting football which was sometimes hard to slow down.
With the ongoing absence of key defenders Daniel Merrett and Joel Patfull, Voss said Daniel Bradshaw was likely to spend some time in defence again as the Lions look to counter Carlton spearhead Brendan Fevola.
"We haven’t spoken about it one bit (the injured defenders)," he said.
"The players are there to do a job ... if one is out another comes in. We’ve been quite enthusiastic about the away the players have played their football down there.
"As a group they’re working well together, supporting one another which is perhaps why they’ve stood up so far over the last couple of weeks in the absence of some senior players."
At the other end of the ground, Voss is hoping Rhan Hooper can back up his four-goal return from injury against North Melbourne.
"You saw his obvious injection of speed that I think every side wants to have in that forward 50," he said.
"They’re like this prized possession that you have in every club. At the moment you look at Hawthorn, you look at Geelong and the way that they go about it. Even with some of St Kilda’s success, their small forwards are kicking goals.
"And while there’s a lot of emphasis on the fact you have good tall forwards, you really need to supplement that with some great ground level firepower. I wouldn’t say we’re there yet ... but we’re seeing some early signs.
"It’s one game, but we don’t have the consistency level yet."