Richmond believe West Coast have short-changed themselves with the trade deal struck for AFL star Chris Judd, arguing their offer was better than what the Eagles ended up accepting from Carlton.

Judd joined the Blues - the club he wanted to go to - in exchange for the third and 20th national draft selections plus young forward Josh Kennedy during last week's trade period.

Richmond director of football Greg Miller said the Tigers had made what he believed was a superior offer, only for the Eagles to take the Blues' deal.

Miller said the Tigers had made a serious tilt at getting the man rated the best player in the competition, offering the Eagles picks two and 18 plus one other draft choice or player for Judd.

Judd was adamant he wanted to join Carlton ahead of any other Melbourne club, though the AFL draft and trade system is meant to ensure there is no free agency for players.

Miller said the Tigers would have had room in the salary cap to afford Judd's wage demands, and believed the Brownlow Medallist would have come around to the idea of playing for Richmond if a deal had been struck.

"Yes I do," Miller said, when asked if he felt his club's offer was better than what the Eagles received from Carlton.

"The decision comes from the top, and that's their prerogative.

"Our offer was there - it was choice two and two other choices.

"We put a deal to West Coast same as Carlton did. They took the Carlton deal."

But West Coast recruiting manager Trevor Woodhouse defended his club's decision, saying the Blues throwing Kennedy into the equation had sealed the deal.

He said the Eagles rated the two offers "relatively similar", though he admitted keeping loyal servant Judd happy with a move to his favoured club had been a consideration.

"That had some effect. You can be ultimately ruthless if you want to be sometimes, but it might come back and bite you on the bum," Woodhouse said.

"If Richmond had offered two, five and 18 we would have been going `here you go Carlton'. They'd have had to come up with one and three.

"If it had have been significantly better we would have been happy to deal with it, but we didn't see it as significantly better so that's the way we went."

Instead the Tigers kept picks two and 18, and acquired rebounding defender Jordan McMahon from the Western Bulldogs in a trade for pick 19.

Miller would not divulge his club's plans for pick two, which is likely to come down to a choice between West Australian Cale Morton and Victorian midfielder Trent Cotchin.

Morton's brother Mitch joined the Tigers from West Coast last week during the trade period in exchange for the No.35 draft pick.

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