WEST COAST coach John Worsfold has likened Chris Judd's departure from the Eagles to "saying goodbye to a close friend" and dismissed speculation that his former captain walked out on the club because of its off-field crisis.

Admitting he struggled watching Judd run around in a navy blue jumper, Worsfold said the loss of the champion midfielder had been a "shock" that "hit me like a ton of bricks".

As the out-of-form West Coast prepared for its first clash against the club's 2006 premiership captain in Friday night's Eagles-Carlton clash at Subiaco, Worsfold said: "I don't think that Chris was totally aware of all the side issues of what he did, issues like how his decision affected football as a whole and the image of the game. I remember when he first chose Carlton and they ran one of those pictures of Chris with a digitally imposed Carlton jumper and I thought, 'That doesn't look right'.

"I still wish he had another jumper on but I do wish him the best and I hope he comes right back to his best … just maybe not for a couple of weeks."

While Judd, 24, left the Eagles in the belief the club would remain in top-four contention for several years, Worsfold's struggling team will take on Judd's Carlton on the back of five straight losses. It sits at 15th on the AFL ladder with its percentage of 66.9 also the second-lowest behind Melbourne.

With his team — most of whom won a premiership 19 months ago and finished fifth last season — down on form and confidence, Worsfold said the club's fall from grace was far more complex than the loss of Judd and Ben Cousins.

"I still don't believe we are that far away," Worsfold said. "But there's certainly no point sooking about the 'go home' factor with Chris. After all, Tyson Stenglein went to Adelaide and eventually wanted to come home and so did Daniel Chick and those players helped us win a premiership, so you can't take with the one hand and then complain about the other."

Worsfold said he was satisfied he did all he could to persuade Judd to remain in Perth and that his attempts to outline a long-term plan for the player and the club had been a two-year process.

"From the time he took on the captaincy, it was ongoing," Worsfold said. "He was well aware of our expectations for him and of him. I basically gave Chris a perspective for him to consider regarding him and the football team. I didn't want him to think: 'It's my life and if I leave the Eagles won't care.' I thought if those considerations had any weight, he had to be aware of what he meant to us. I know how hard it was for him to sit down and look me in the eye and tell me he was leaving."

Worsfold was the first person Judd told once he had reached his decision. While the coach said he was still confronted by speculation the player quit to escape the Eagles' off-field problems, Worsfold did not believe it.

"Chris is one of the most honest people I've ever met and I've heard other things but I can only go on what he told me. He wanted to go home. He's not the kind of person to change his mind or beat around the bush.

"As much as it hit me like a ton of bricks — there's no doubt about that, even though I was half-expecting it, it was still a shock — I knew there was no point trying to make him stay.

"With Chris, he loves football but it's not No. 1. No. 1 is his family. Maybe you have to be as good as he is to be able to think like that."

Just as he remains in intermittent contact with Cousins, Worsfold said he had met Judd several times since the split. "He's visited us a couple of times when we've been playing in Melbourne at our hotel," Worsfold said. "He'll always play an important part in the history of our club and I have heard him say if West Coast was based in Melbourne, he would have been a West Coast player for his whole career. How do I describe it? It was like saying goodbye to a close friend. That's how it was."