Chris Judd Opens Up On His Mentorship Of Zach Merrett

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Chris Judd has opened up on his mentorship of Zach Merrett, saying he was approached by Essendon coach John Worsfold to have a chat with the Bombers star.

Judd said on the Friday Huddle he has been catching up with the 21-year-old for "a couple of years", in which time he has flourished.

Merrett averaged 29.9 disposals and polled 19 Brownlow votes last year, and has bettered that with 32.3 disposals a game in 2017.

He has racked up over 30 disposals in 15 of his last 20 games.

"Yeah, I’ve been catching up with him for a couple of years now," Judd said.

"It originally came out when Dyson Heppell had his spell from footy, and John Worsfold got in touch and asked if I could catch up with him and spend a bit of time with him.

"I really enjoyed getting to know him. He’s a really driven young player, and he’s been playing some great footy, so it’s been great having a relationship with him."

Judd said his discussions with Merrett were more about how to prepare psychologically to play to a high standard.

"He’s got people watching his game closer than me," he said.

"Mine is more based around things I’ve learned about psychologically preparing for playing footy and what I learned playing in teams throughout my time. But it’s generally psychologically based about how to prepare best to succeed."

He said they often catch up over a bite to eat whenever they've got time.

"We usually go to MissChu in Toorak Road. Generally sort of a chicken satay type of operation. Nice and lean," he said.

"I think we usually take turns in paying the bill."

And he flattened any suggestions from Howie that Merrett had a scoop on his coveted Judge Juddy segment.

"I save that for the family! This is more a business type operation there, Howie," he laughed.