The contest for the services of Chris Judd pitted a billionaire against one of the nation's most recognised entertainers. It was fought between the three powerhouse clubs of Melbourne and what was once the club of this city's establishment.

One club that wasn't at the starting gate sought to crash the party. No quarter was given, but despite the involvement of Richard Pratt, Eddie McGuire and numerous other heavyweights from football and the corporate world, money and fame weren't the currencies that counted in this race.

The rules of engagement were different because Chris Judd stands apart from the AFL herd. Whereas the conventional pitch to a gun player hinges on money, terms of contract and flattery, Judd was wooed with sports science, the environment and philanthropy.

He was importuned with recruiting and fitness methods, playing lists, club philosophies, and lobbied by champions of the game. Recognising that Judd was not one for chasing paparazzi, the clubs didn't dangle media opportunities or limelight. Quite the reverse, in fact.

He would get lots of money and unwanted attention wherever he went, and so this was not where the battle was waged. It was about selling Judd a vision and presenting one's club in the best possible light.

The ultimate victor, Carlton, had to convince Judd that it was now sound and stable, on the rebound from a basket-case period. This was reflected in Judd's telling, almost existential, question to Pratt, over lunch at the billionaire's mansion, Raheen: "Are you going to stick around?" Pratt said yes, he would stay president.

The club that finished behind Carlton, in its customary position of runner-up, didn't need to persuade Judd that it was strong, rich or technologically advanced. Collingwood had money, facilities and dazzling expertise. What the Magpies couldn't do, however, was convince the game's most feted player that when the dealing was done, he'd be wearing black and white.

Essendon and Melbourne, the third and fourth clubs that vied for Judd last October, knew that they were up against it, and that Judd would probably choose between Carlton and Collingwood. It is a measure of Judd's appeal that they still made thoughtful, forceful pitches that greatly impressed him.

Essendon wheeled in James Hird and Matthew Lloyd, while telling Judd that he wouldn't "replace James Hird" as the face of the club. The Demons brought Garry Lyon and Jimmy Stynes to impress Judd, their pitch shaped by a profile of Judd put together by the club pyschologist.

Whereas the temporary absence of a coach was the weakness in the Essendon presentation, the newly appointed Dean Bailey emerged as perhaps the strongest part of the Melbourne pitch.

Judd confirmed that he would be leaving West Coast on Sunday, September 16, less than two days after West Coast was defeated by Collingwood at Subiaco in extra time of their semi-final. His decision "stunned" the Eagles, despite long-standing speculation - and hints from Judd - about his intention to return home. Some West Coast insiders had assumed he would leave one day; they just hoped it wouldn't be until 2010.

The Judd chase was unprecedented. The pursuits of Nathan Buckley and Tony Lockett had not been so frenzied, or occupied as many clubs. In effect, Judd invited the clubs to show their wares - a reversal of the natural order that an old-fashioned Leigh Matthews found distasteful. Judd would later liken the courtship to an employee "meeting the people you're going to work for".

Judd had scrupulously avoided any talks with his suitors until he had seen John Worsfold and told the Eagles coach he was headed home. He had been weighing up his future throughout 2008 and was not, contrary to scuttlebutt, "a done deal" to Carlton in April, May or August.

Pratt took the unorthodox step of phoning Worsfold, a former Carlton assistant coach, asking that "Woosher" assist in getting Judd to Royal Parade; the cardboard king's call was made after Judd's exit from the Eagles, but before he had nominated the Blues.

The 2006 premiership captain had not finally concluded his time was up in Perth until shortly before West Coast's troubled season - its "annus narcotics" - had ended in that overtime epic, with Judd, Kerr and Ben Cousins sitting in the grandstand.

Judd's manager, Paul Connors, had been fielding calls from the clubs in 2007 and had told them of the possibility that Judd might be available. A queue was forming.

Back when he was entrenched at Collingwood, Carlton chief executive Greg Swann had been told that there was a chance Judd would one day return to Victoria. Swann, though, had not really believed it - he doubted a player of that calibre would leave West Coast.

True to his personable ways, Swann had laid some ad hoc groundwork in the event that Judd ever did leave. In the spring of 2005, Collingwood headed to Arizona for the first of its high-altitude training camps. Swann stayed in Melbourne and on Derby Day, found himself in the Emirates Airlines marquee, one of the spring carnival's elite hospitality spots and a haven for minor celebrities.

The Arizona camp had deprived Emirates, Collingwood's major sponsor, of footballer content on the guest list. The airline asked Swann for help enlisting footballers. He rang Connors, who suggested his prized client, Judd, then in Melbourne on his end-of-season break after West Coast's grand final defeat by Sydney.

The same invitation was extended on Derby Day 2006, when Emirates filled the Collingwood/Arizona void with Judd, now the premiership captain, his teammate Daniel Kerr and their partners. Noting the marquee player's presence alongside Swann that afternoon, another Emirates eminence, Kevin Sheedy, jested that "you blokes (Collingwood) are unbelievable".

The Derby Days had the effect of establishing some rapport between Judd and Swann. After Swann won Judd's signature for Carlton, a rueful Collingwood insider suggested the Blues "should pick up the tab for the Emirates tent".

On October 10, the day he was finally traded, Judd told The Age that Swann's presence at Carlton was a significant factor in his decision to choose the Blues.

It's improbable Judd would be at Carlton if not for Pratt, without whom there would be no Swann. The 2006 appointment of Steven Icke, the former Fremantle official, as Carlton's football operations manager, did not hurt either, given he knew Judd from his Perth days and was on friendly terms with Connors.

More critical to the deal than Swann, Icke or Pratt, however, was Carlton's pole position in the draft relative to Collingwood, which finished fourth. The Magpies believe that if that the draft positions were reversed, or even equal, Judd would have lined up for them on Anzac Day.

The Blues held picks 1 and 3 in the national draft, and the second choice in the pre-season draft - that ugly place where Judd would be stranded in the unlikely event that no deal was struck by the deadline.

Judd narrowed the field of clubs to four, and meetings were quickly arranged. Carlton was first, then Melbourne, Essendon and finally the Pies, who would not pitch until their season ended in a preliminary final defeat by Geelong.

Carlton's bid began at Raheen over a lunch attended by Pratt, Swann, Icke, new coach Brett Ratten and Visy chief executive John Murphy, who floated the possibility of a Judd role as a environmental spokesman for Visy - a deal still under discussion. Pratt's wife Jeanne took Judd and Connors on a tour of the Studley Park mansion that was once the domain of the Catholic Archbishop.

The Blues then brought Judd back to the club for more detailed discussions about the club. Connors had already indicated that any contract would be at least five years, at an average of about a million a year. Judd later signed a six-year deal, not the widely presumed five years. It is the longest contract of any current player.

Judd's questions to the Blues, at Raheen and the club, give us an insight into his thinking. Having sought reassurance about Pratt's commitment, he asked Swann, Ratten, Icke and recruiting manager Wayne Hughes: "How will you get the deal done?"

The same question would be put to Collingwood several days later, on Brownlow medal day, at Eddie McGuire's lavish answer to Raheen, the Lexus Centre. At Carlton, Swann's reply was immediate: "Pick 3, Josh Kennedy, maybe pick 20."

"I think that's fair," Judd said. The eventual trade was already in place, although the Eagles and Blues still did the inevitable haggling, the Eagles - understandably - insisting on the pick No.1 Carlton had earmarked for Matthew Kreuzer.

Collingwood's highly structured presentation pushed professionalism more than the personal vibe of the Carlton talks. Coach Mick Malthouse, football chief Geoff Walsh and recruiting manager Derek Hine were joined by chief executive Gary Pert, McGuire, conditioning coach David Buttifant, senior assistant coach Guy McKenna and WA recruiting man Neil Ross. McKenna and Ross had known Judd from their time as Eagles assistant coaches, Hine had some contact with Judd while working with the Sandringham Dragons.

The Magpies felt Judd was "blown away" by the high-tech stuff and was particularly taken with Buttifant's presentation of sports-science programs. On Brownlow evening, Judd was understood to have the Magpies in front.

But the Pies couldn't answer the only substantial question Judd asked: "How do you think you'll get the deal done?" Their response was "leave that to us". Judd subsequently told The Age he would be "lying" if he said he had not been influenced by Collingwood's trading difficulties.

Collingwood did not want to throw names around - the media was already doing that, with Alan Didak and Josh Fraser the subjects of speculation - until Judd had nominated it as its preferred club. Magpie officials sensed Judd was dubious about Collingwood's capacity to satisfy West Coast. The industry consensus is that it would have cost the equivalent of three first-round picks, with perhaps Nathan Brown headed west to join his brother Mitchell, and another highly rated kid sent elsewhere.

The Pies say Didak was off the table. Would he or Fraser, who was then out of contract, have been offered up had Judd chosen Collingwood? We'll never know.

Connors had tentatively floated scenarios with Collingwood. While they wanted Judd, the Magpies did not want to unravel a promising list that had run Geelong to five points.

The Eagles had clearly communicated that they did not wish to see Judd wearing black and white stripes. This would be another consideration for the 2004 Brownlow medallist, and indeed, for the Magpies.

Hawthorn and Richmond had not made the cut. The Hawks appeared to tick the boxes outlined by Judd - on the rise, an MCG club, financially secure - but they had not been aggressive in pursuing Judd, and were playing catch-up.

Much speculation has centred on Judd's spurning of the Hawks. The explanation is believed to contain two lifestyle factors: one, he'd left a club that crossed the Nullarbor every second week and he didn't relish the seven or eight annual flights the Hawks would make as a result of their Tasmanian base. Second, he harboured a wish to live in Melbourne's inner suburbs, some distance from Waverley Park.

In hindsight, the salary cap would have made Judd problematic for the Hawks, given that Lance Franklin, too, could soon command seven figures.

Richmond, holding the leverage of first pick in the uncontracted draft, did not meekly accept that it was out of the race and, as West Coast looked for another bidder, Richmond football director Greg Miller began extensive discussions with the West Coast football department.

Miller offered picks 2 and 18, which was better than the pick 3 Carlton had on the table. The Eagles wanted Trent Cotchin, and needed a pick higher than 3 to draft the Victorian midfielder.

Miller and West Coast discussed a "Veale deal" - the name given to trades in which a player is sent, against his wishes, into the pre-season draft and to the bottom club. The Bulldogs had obtained an unhappy Jade Rawlings from Hawthorn, using the pawn of unheralded Lochlan Veale.

Connors knew what was being cooked up, and phoned Miller. If West Coast forced Judd into the draft in a deal for pick 2 and 18 (with another player acting as a pawn), Connors said Judd would place a $2 million price on his head, blowing Richmond's salary cap apart.

Ultimately, West Coast accepted Carlton's offer, which by early in trade week had included a reluctant Kennedy and pick 3. Pick 20 was the last bargaining chip. Most clubs consider the Blues blessed to get Judd and keep pick 1.

As for the black-and-white bridesmaids, they consoled themselves that Judd had spared them from either a costly trade or a collapsed, controversial non-deal. Within the club, there was a measure of relief that Judd had chosen their traditional foe.

As they had in 1985, when they grabbed Stephen Kernahan, Craig Bradley, Peter Motley and Jon Dorotich in one rapacious summer, and in 1991, when they acquired Greg Williams from Sydney, the Blues had pulled off a blockbuster that could revive their club. They were themselves again.