Training together was a novel way for AFL club Carlton and NRL power Melbourne to break the grind of their pre-seasons.

But there was a serious side to Friday's fun for the co-tenants at Princes Park.

As the competition within their own codes keeps intensifying, professional football clubs continue to look to other sports for tactical innovation and game-breaking ideas.

AFL clubs, for example, have used the rugby codes for help with tackling.

The Storm have enjoyed great success adapting AFL skills, particularly kicking and marking.

"A lot of sports are now starting to really take things from others - you look at the way Hawthorn play their zone defence, from soccer," said Blues captain Chris Judd.

"There's a lot of relevance we can take out of their sport and they can take out of our sport as well."

Judd joked that team-mate Andrew Walker had a future career in league "if he puts on 40kg", while the Storm's Cooper Cronk would made a handy forward pocket with his defensive pressure.

Storm captain Cameron Smith said the adaptation of AFL skills had proved a scoring bonanza for Melbourne.

"Definitely over the last couple of years, (there's) obviously the kicking and catching aspect, particularly the catching," Smith said.

"We're head-and-shoulders above the other NRL teams, particularly when you have a guy like Israel Folau - the last couple of years, I think he's scored about 40 tries.

"At least 30 of them were from cross kicks, where he was up above everyone else and catching the ball out in front.

"That's certainly one thing we got from the AFL and obviously we've done a bit of work with the kicking as well."

Judd said the increased emphasis in the AFL on tackling reached a tipping point early last season, when Collingwood smashed reigning premiers Geelong by 86 points.

One of the main reasons for the major upset was the Magpies' fierce defensive work.

He added Hawthorn's outstanding zone defence, a big factor in their upset premiership, would have a major impact on the rest of the competition.

"Covering the space and not the man is the big thing they introduced - the effectiveness Luke Hodge had over that finals series, where he was really covering an area," Judd said.

"It's probably really change the way other clubs look at defending the opposition."

While the Blues will try to emulate some of Hawthorn's game, Judd said it was vital that Carlton keep developing their own tactics.

He regards the Hawks and Geelong, last year's grand finalists, as the stand-out AFL teams heading into this season.

"If you look at the 16 teams, they're probably the only two teams that you'd be incredibly surprised if they weren't in the top four."

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