Former St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt has been impressed with what he’s seen from Carlton’s youngsters so far this season.

The Blues are yet to win a game, but have taken it up to both Richmond and Port Adelaide, with a number of their younger players looking as though they’ve taken a step up from 2018.

“Carlton, I look at their side, and I know they’re not in the very good team bracket at the moment, but in terms of where they’re heading, I don’t see a real weakness in terms of their growth and development,” Riewoldt told SEN Breakfast.

“What I mean by that is I think their backline looks really solid with Caleb Marchbank to come back in.

“Lachie Plowman is doing a great job, Jacob Weitering’s form so far this year has been really solid. His positioning has been good. He just hasn’t been making mistakes.

“Their midfield is loaded with young players with Paddy Dow, Sam Walsh and Patrick Cripps, who’s a superstar.

“Up forward, Harry McKay has really surprised me so far this year. His ability to mark the ball in contested situations, he hits the pack hard, he plays strong in the contest.

“Mitch McGovern had a patch. Where he needs to round out as a player is where he finds that consistency because he can go missing for large chunks of games, but he had a 10 minutes that was as good as anyone’s over the weekend.”

The Blues host the winless Swans at Marvel Stadium this weekend and will be hoping to take the next step and get their first win of 2019.