For some reason, the red and white seems to bring out the best in Judd, who  could have been a dual premiership player if not for Leo Barry's last-gasp heroics in 2005.

There's a Norm Smith Medal – one of only four won by a player from the losing team – a premiership cup which he hoisted in 2006, a swag of Brownlow votes, a blistering third quarter in 2010 where he almost single-handedly lifted his side to victory plus another epic performance several months later which left some greats of the game gobsmacked. He has also averaged 25 possessions against the Swans, who for much of Judd's career have been at or near the top of the tree.

When Judd takes to the field on Saturday, there is every chance it will be the last time he faces the Swans given the uncertainty over his playing future beyond this year.

Unlike Lance Franklin, who remains in his prime, Judd can no longer muster virtuoso performances on a weekly basis but for a while his impact on Carlton was similar to the excitement which Buddy has generated for his club.

When Judd landed at Carlton in 2007 the club was close to a basketcase, having just narrowly escaped a threepeat of wooden spoons, but his arrival heralded a spike in performance on and off the field.

Swans coach John Longmire is too classy a man to wish to see the back of the famous Carlton No.5 but would be forgiven if he breathed a sigh of relief at the end of the year should Judd hang up the boots.

For Longmire, two performances come to mind. First, there was a cut-throat final in 2010 when Judd turned the game in one quarter. A comfortable lead of four goals at half-time had morphed into a seven-point deficit in 30 minutes of brilliance from Judd.

If Judd's numbers – 10 disposals, six clearances and five contested possessions – were not impressive enough, then consider his opponent at the time was Kieren Jack, a future All Australian midfielder.

The Swans were forced to move another future gun, Josh Kennedy, to Judd merely to halve any contest he got to.

"It wasn't so much a tagging role, more another player who is a good strong contested ball player," Longmire recalled this week.

"His ability to win 50-50 balls – a lot of people see his ability to run and carry which is elite, because of his speed – but what he is is an extremely high-level contested-ball player.

"He's a really good one-on-one player and so we thought in the last quarter of that game it was about matching that ability to win a one-on-one battle."

Paul Roos said at the time the performance was befitting of a champion.

''He's a terrific player, he has been for many, many years, and that shows you why,'' Roos said.

''People throw the word champion around willy-nilly these days. Everyone's a champion. Play one game, you're a champion now. So when you see a champion playing well, that's what a champion is, not someone who fronts up once a month and plays one good game and five bad ones or has one good season in five. A champion is Chris Judd. He's a champion.''

As the Swans prepared to play the Blues the following year, Adam Goodes described Judd's effort as a "pleasure to watch".

“I thought we had the measure of the Blue boys at half time and I thought we were going to kick away with it in the second half,” Goodes recalled.

“But one bloke had other things on his mind. Watching Chris Judd just turn the game in the third quarter was quite impressive and it took a mighty effort from us as a team to really fight back and get the result."

Who would have thought Goodes was to see an even better effort from Judd just days later.

On a wet April night at the SCG, Judd, then the Blues skipper, ploughed through the mud to find the ball 33 times, including 25 contested possessions and 15 clearances. It was a performance which moved some of Carlton's favourite sons.

Commentating on Melbourne radio, former Blues premiership coach and player Robert Walls said it was "one of the best games you could ever see a captain play".

"I don't say that lightly. I think that's one of the best performances I've ever seen," Walls said.

Longmire said what separated the good players from champions such as Judd was their competitive spirit and ability to inspire their team.

"There's a lot of blokes who have ability to play the game but the absolute champions are the ones with the enormous competitive spirit who hate getting beaten, and love competing and testing themselves," Longmire said.

"I certainly walked away from that game marvelling at his competitive spirit as much as his ability."