Carlton youngsters Sam Petrevski-Seton and Zac Fisher look right at home in the AFL

WHAT two Carlton young guns produced in their first outing together was one of the clearest silver linings we’ve seen from the Blues’ youngsters all season.

Zac Fisher produced this stunning tackle on Aaron Hall. Picture: Getty Images

CARLTON looked at its forward line last year and wondered where the goals would come from.

If Levi Casboult didn’t clunk one, it was up to Matthew Wright to conjure something at ground level.

So Stephen Silvagni stepped in.

With his first two picks at last year’s draft, the man charged with rejuvenating the Carlton list looked to electro-charge the forward half of the ground.

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And regardless of the result, and in particular a horror third quarter, what Sam Petrevski-Seton and Zac Fisher produced in their first outing together was one of the clearest silver linings we’ve seen from the Blues’ youngsters all season.

In fact, their pace, polish, flair and maybe mostly, their tackle pressure and impressive work rate, moved Carlton fans to the edge of their seats last night in ways they would not have experienced since the Eddie Betts and Jeff Garlett days.

Zac Fisher looked good in his Carlton debut. Picture: Getty Images

Petrevski-Seton is something special.

The No. 6 pick has been excellent in his first three games, stalking the opposition with intent throughout the middle of the ground and justifying Brendon Bolton’s decision to play him in Round 1 against Richmond despite missing the entire JLT preseason series.

First year players need at least one run, we thought, for some touch and fitness.

But Bolton threw out the coaching manual and played the speedster, and it’s worked a treat.

Fisher is only 175cm, but he looked comfortable at the level, in the same way another pocket-rocket Caleb Daniel burst on to the scene at the kennel.

Fisher’s desperate chase-down and desperate lunging tackle on Aaron Hall on the wing, which released Jarrod Pickett on a bouncing run towards goal, set the tempo in the first term.

At one point Carlton had 24 inside 50m tackles to Gold Coast’s four.

The pressure in the forward half is clearly a key part of the way they want to play and it helped keep the Blues in it before Tom Lynch took charge.

Not long afterwards in the second quarter, Fisher scooped up a ball at pace and then kicked sweetly across his body on his left foot close to the boundary line, just like he was back home in Perth.

In his first AFL game, it was that miracle shot you take in the backyard, somewhere near the fence line. This was goosebumps stuff as teammates rushed to him to celebrate.

Sam Petrevski-Seton has made a strong start to the season. Picture: AAP Images

And when he produced a manic second effort to keep the ball in play on the goal line and set up Pickett again from point blank range, Fisher was not only delighting his coaches, he was making his claim for cult figure status.

He is, after all, wearing the No. 25 jumper made famous by Brendan Fevola and Alex Jesaulenko.

Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd wrote a column in the preseason that would have made all Carlton fans nervous, saying the list build was half-baked.

Clearly, the club has a lot of work to do and finals are maybe at least three years away.

But the green shoots are there, and the new Batman and Robin forward line combo is worth watching and worth playing.