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Western Bulldogs | ||
| Footscray | Paul Hudson | Footscray | ||
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Number: |
9 |
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Footscray Western Bulldogs Red white and Blue |
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Height: |
185 | |||
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Weight: |
88 | |||
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Birthday: |
20 July 1970 | |||
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Period on list: |
1997 to 2001 | |||
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Senior Games: |
108 | |||
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Goals: |
214 | |||
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Disposals: |
1228 | |||
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Recruited From: |
Hawthorn, Glenorchy. 1997 preseason draft selection no 2. | |||
| Honours: | All-Australian 1998. Leading goalkicker in 1998 and 1999 with 51 and 61 goals. Nominated for Team of the century. | |||
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Huddo, they called him a son of a gun, his father being
champion full-forward Peter Hudson.
Hawthorn didn't know how to treat him properly gave him away, this was their loss and our gain. He became a champion half-forward flanker and a match-winner.
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Footscray |
Huddo had a real talent in being able to find open space
and putting himself in it. You would have lost count of the times when he
took an uncontested mark on the forward line.
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| Western Bulldogs | His best kicking was a bag of 8 goals against the Brisbane Lions in round 4 2001. Previously he had kicked 6 against Fremantle and 5 in the 1998 final against Adelaide. | |||
| Seemed not to be fast but clever. Initially he was very accurate in front of goal, this was one of his trademarks. Also he could rise to the big occasion. He showed his loyalty to the club by wearing a red-white and blue mouth guard, the white section stood out a bit and made him look like he had buck teeth. | ||||
| His famous father often came to the club and helped out with the coaching. | ||||
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I remember a game played at Geelong where I think
we had been down all day and then staged a last quarter comeback and were
less than a kick down with 30 seconds or so remaining. The ball was bouncing
towards the boundary line 30 M from our goals. Huddo ran towards it took a
fresh air shot as it was heading over the line and hooked it back to Darcy
in the goal square who kicked a goal and we won. Huddo magic - able to
conjure something out of nothing. |
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He could be lounging around for 3 quarters and others
would abuse him but I always said, 'He still has time to his his 3 goals,"
and sure enough he always did. He was possessionless against North at Optus Oval one day and the opposition supporters were cheering when he came off before 3 quarter time. He came on at the start of the fourth and kicked three and set up another two. He was a game breaker.
Huddo was one of my favourites and I hated seeing him finish his career that way. He gave us great service. He was a hog and was as goal hungry as they come (I remember in a game against Hawthorn, Dimma was given a free kick in front of goal but had to come off so Huddo sprinted about 20 metres to take the kick). He was great value and we got him on the cheap. At his peak he was the sharpest kick for goal in the league. That's something about Huddo, I just loved his simplified attitude to the game : Get the goals necessary to win!
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When his accuracy gave out he was traded away. Paul traded himself as a 'Templeton sacrifice', he needed the money his contract was going to entitle him to in the last year due to new family. He got his money and we saved money. | |||
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I thought he looked finished at the end of 2002 and it
was a shame he didn't retire and was able to be given a Bulldog send-off. For
a player so maligned at Hawthorn, Bulldog supporters seemed to love the
Huddo. He was traded to Richmond in the 2001 draft (for pick 49), for whom he played 3 games and kicked one goal. We got Marcus Picken and Shannon Rusca from Brisbane for pick 49. The reason why he didn't perform well at Richmond is simple: he wasn't given a chance when his form warranted it for most of the year |
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Considering all of the great players that we gave away,
and you haven't got enough fingers and toes to count them on, with Huddo we
got one back! Went to play for Leongatha in 2003. Nickname 'Pappa Smurf.' |
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