Chris Judd's "rusty" is still better than the form of most AFL players at their peak.

The Carlton captain had his first competitive hitout for the year in Friday night's 53-point walloping of North Melbourne in their round-one pre-season game.

Judd had missed two intraclub games and also came into the Telstra Dome game with minimal tackling work.

But his sublime skills were still evident and he was high among the Blues' best.

"Early on, he was probably a little bit rusty in some of the takes," said coach Brett Ratten.

"He's got all that (running stride) back and he hasn't missed a beat through pre-season this year, he's in good shape.

"I'm probably talking about the finer points of some of his ball takes and things like that.

"His ball-winning ablity will never go - he could probably sit three rows back and still find 20 possessions (with) ease."

The other star for Carlton was full-forward Brendan Fevola, who kicked six goals.

Fevola has clearly spent some time in the weights room and Ratten joked that his key goalkicker had finally found the shoulder machines.

"It's taken him a while," Ratten drily noted.

The Blues coach said it was important Fevola did not lose his speed at the expense of putting on more muscle.

The ankle injury to newcomer Chris Yarran was the only negative for the Blues, who will now meet the winner of Saturday's NAB Cup match between Hawthorn and Melbourne.

That quarter-final is set for March 1 at Telstra Dome.

While the Blues were upbeat, Kangaroos coach Dean Laidley was philosophical.

The two sides were close to full strength, but North were outclassed.

Capping off a bad night, Fevola's collision with Daniel Pratt in a marking contest put the key defender in hospital.

But Laidely noted his players were in the midst of a heavy training block, with the focus on being ready for the start of the regular season.

Still, he made it clear there would be no tolerance for such a poor performance.

He said 12 Carlton goals came from North turnovers and singled out full-back Michael Firrito for his errors.

"We looked like we were running through mud, at this time of the year, you want to focus on round one," Laidley said.

"But you still don't want to get beaten like that.

"So you look at it - is it a physical thing or a mental thing?"

One clear positive for North was midfielder Jack Ziebell, recruited with pick nine in last year's draft.

Ziebell showed some great signs and Laidley described him as "outstanding".

"You can see why the coach has a smile on his face ... and the supporters will as well," Laidley said.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP