Judd sat out the last quarter of last week’s heavy loss to Collingwood after sustaining a knock to a pectoral muscle, casting doubt over his availability for the do-or-die clash.
Rumours of a star's late withdrawal are nothing new ahead of a big game and Blues' footy manager Steven Icke laughed off suggestions Judd was about to be pulled from the team when contacted shortly after 5pm EST.
“We expect Chris Judd to play,” Icke said.
“We picked him in the side yesterday, he trained yesterday and unless something has happened in the 24 hours that we don’t know about, we expect Chris Judd to play.
“I’m on my way to the ground right now and when I get there I expect to see Chris Judd getting stripped and ready to play tonight.”
Carlton made four changes to the side after last week’s humiliating 48-point loss to the Pies. Andrew Walker, Brad Fisher and Chris Johnson were all dropped while Chris Yarran departed with an ankle injury.
Richard Hadley, Mitch Robinson, Dennis Armfield and first-gamer Marcus Davies were brought into the team.
Joe Anderson, Mark Austin and Setanta O’hAilpin are the emergencies.
