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."
