ANDREW McKay, the last Carlton premiership player to wear the No.5 guernsey, is loath to contribute his two bob’s worth to Chris Judd, who now prepares to don the Navy Blue No.5 for the first time.

“Who am I to give advice?,” said McKay. “I could say ‘Wear the guernsey with pride’, but I reckon he’ll do that anyway. Besides, it doesn’t matter what number a player is wearing really - you’d like to think that each one of them is wearing theirs with pride.

“All I can say is ‘Enjoy it, have fun and lead from the front’.”

McKay, the 244-game half-back flanker and coveted member of the all-conquering 1995 Grand Final outfit, also captained Carlton in his best and fairest-winning season of 2003, so is more than qualified to comment.

“You definitely take an interest in who’s going to wear the number and you take that extra special notice of how the player’s going,” he said.

“[But] I don’t think I need to worry about how ‘Juddy’s’ going. It’s nice to know that the No.5 is being worn by such a great player and leader, and hopefully he brings every success to it.”

McKay, a fully-qualified veterinarian and Chairman of the AFL’s Match Review Committee, said that he and Judd’s paths had never crossed. “I did play against him [Judd] a couple of times . . . although he never bothered the half-forward line too often, he just controlled the middle,” McKay said.

“I suppose I feel like the everyday punter – I feel as though I know him a little bit solely through his football exploits and the way he comes across in the media. He seems like a very down to earth guy and I’d like to meet him, get to know him, and maybe form that bond of the No.5.”

McKay, Carlton’s first round selection (No.13 overall) in the AFL National Draft of 1992, took the option of wearing the No.5 guernsey vacated by Steve Da Rui “because I thought ‘bugger it, the number would be easy to sew on”.

“I wore no. 8 and no.11 at Glenelg and actually thought 11 would be good, but Earl [Spalding] had No.11,” McKay said.

“One of the guys I looked up to over in South Australia was Chris McDermott, who wore No.10, and I thought ‘if I could be half as good as him I’ll take no.5’.”

Not dissimilar in appearance to “The Juddster”, McKay was asked if supporters fronting up to the ground this Friday afternoon might be forgiven for thinking that’s ‘Macka’ out there.

“A very fast one,” came the reply.