He fought tough battles in a distinguished AFL and WAFL playing career and tackled the gruelling task of coaching at the highest level.

It takes supreme courage to survive in the unforgiving demands of AFL and WAFL conflicts and on the biggest and most enduring stage of all, in a grand final.

Ken Judge was also a highly accomplished community cricketer with a cherished record and known for producing his finest exploits in the heaviest contests of finals and grand finals.

For all of those accomplishments - in a career which started with his young days as a teenage sporting prodigy - he just couldn't beat the onset of cancer and lost his fight at just 58 on Friday morning.

His unwavering battle took so much more guts than to walk up the race of the mighty MCG colosseum and into grand final battle with the powerful Hawthorn units of the mid-1980s, as well with East Fremantle in WA in the late 1970s.

"Judgey" fought for five-and-a-half-years against multiple myeloma, a deadly form of leukaemia, having been initially told it could envelope his body and take him in just two years.

He is survived by a loving wife Annette and three sons Jason, Beau and Ben.

For much of Judgey's courageous fight he kept his agony locked inside his decaying body, convinced that others "don't need to know" everything.

Within days of heavy bouts of chemotherapy and the horrid after-effects that go with that necessary but unsavoury requirement to preserve an ailing life, he attended the funeral of a great mate's mother.

He ground out hours of comforting to his loyal confidant and then downed the few customary "frothies" from a favoured stubby, with strict instructions to just one or two around him not to let on how physically unwell he really was.

That his beer "tasted off" was just one of the many grotesque changes a cancer sufferer has to bear in their battle to hold on and survive that bit longer.

Another time, when a long-standing close mate and top international sporting reporter passed through Perth just a day after Judgey had copped a blast of chemo, he kept the appointment for a "few beers and a chat" while he was in the west.

Judgey climbed from a recovery bed, dressed and put on a tough, brave veneer and trekked to the city from Fremantle to keep his commitment, again with strict orders given to those around him not to let on his discomfort.

Over the past year or so of his gutsy fight, in order to minimise grief for those close to him, he worked on Perth radio with his Saturday morning sports panel programs and provided his astute and award-winning football analysis with a bag of medication and intravenous drips pumping into him, taped underneath his clothing.

"No one needs to know," were his words to just the one or two people Judgey trusted to know of his plight and discomfort.

Even the committed and devoted medical staff around Charlie Gairdner's oncology department at times marvelled and remarked at how amazed they were at his determined fight with minimum fuss and complaints.

That's not to say many hadn't suffered his wrath and occasional stinging rebuke over the years, including during his, at times, turbulent coaching career over four years at his beloved Hawthorn from 1996 to 1999 before two seasons with West Coast in 2000-01.

He was dumped by West Coast after a frustrating end to a highly successful era under previous coach Mick Malthouse. In taking over after 10 straight years in finals, the Judge era saw missed playoffs in both seasons, triggering an ugly behind-the-scenes falling out with critical management and influential Eagles powerbrokers.

Judge had established impressive WAFL coaching credentials at East Fremantle from early 1991 as he engineered premierships in 1992 and 1994, before being recruited into the unforgiving AFL ranks by another of his many great footy mates David Parkin.

​He started with Carlton as an assistant to Parkin, where they shared success with the powerful Blues' 1995 flag winning unit.

Judgey graced hallowed VFL/AFL turf 72 times with Hawthorn under Allan Jeans from 1983-86, as well as 17 outings with Brisbane Lions in 87-88.

He was a deadly accurate by foot and a classy finisher on the run and with set-shots for goal. Judgey's close mate for decades from down Fremantle way and top footy commentator, Brad Hardie described him as one of the "finest goal-kicking exponents" he had ever seen.

Judge played 120 games with East Fremantle starting as a young prodigy from the famous club's local junior area.

A feature of Judge's play through more than 200 WAFL and VFL games was his classic long-sleeved jumper, regardless of rain, hail, windy or warm and sunny conditions.

He was an important member of Old East's historic 1979 premiership victory over staunch rival South Fremantle, in not only one of the most famous derby shootouts of all time but a truly classic grand final in WA footy folklore.

Judge was also in demand from a young age for his cricketing prowess.

At the height of East Fremantle celebrations and gloating with bragging rights at beating the arch enemy for the 1979 flag, Judge was wooed into training and then playing in WACA district cricket first grade ranks a week after one of the most exciting grand finals in WA sporting history.

He was sought to train with Fremantle, at Stevens Reserve just down the road from the famous East Fremantle clubhouse.

He reluctantly agreed and totally against an impeccable personal pride in meticulous discipline for preparation, he bowed to persistence from Fremantle CC overtures and made an inauspicious debut.

Judge would not return to WACA jeague ranks and resumed a remarkably accomplished career in the flannels as one of the finest achievers at any sub-district level in the state.

His fiercely determined and uncompromising competitive nature that was nurtured at Hawthorn under such great mentoring from Jeans and a renowned Hawks culture, fired a strong will to succeed with Judge.

That fighting quality could undoubtedly have led to a highly accomplished and successful WACA district career had it not been for his preference to ply such relentless ambition and ability into Aussie Rules at the highest level, instead of an elite cricket career.

He is the finest individual player produced from the Christian Brothers College cricket club in Fremantle.

Judge is the second highest run-scorer in that competitive club's history, with 12,051 runs at a remarkable average of 50.2, including 17 centuries.

If that wasn't sufficient, he also chimed in across his 320 pride-riddled games with 710 wickets at a miserly average of only 14.3 for each scalp.

Sport dominated Ken Judge's life with the formation of a massive friendship and acquaintances across the nation.

He lived by the philosophies adopted from his much loved and revered legend Jeans of loyalty to mates and those loyal to him (among some of his closest life lasting mates and confidants, as well as the deceased Jeans, were other AFL coaching and playing greats Parkin and Leigh Matthews).

Coaching was in Judge's blood from an early time, with his appointment as CBC cricket club coach when just 19 and juggling a rising WAFL career and all his summer training requirements with his two chosen sports.

His devotion and unyielding desires for personal and team fulfilment to the optimum level were epitomised by his brave battle to beat an ugly illness.

Ken Judge was a truly gutsy man.