FORGOTTEN Blue Brock McLean has sent a reminder of his talents to coach Brett Ratten, dominating Carlton's first intra-club practice match of the season.

A lean and fit McLean won plenty of the ball in a game missing a number of the club's best 22 players, including Chris Judd, Matthew Kreuzer, Jeff Garlett, Lachie Henderson, Bret Thornton, Setanta O'hAilpin and Robbie Warnock.

Ratten was clearly thrilled with the form of McLean, whose stoppage work in the four 15-minute quarters was a feature of the hit-out.

"I thought his work inside in the contest was very good," Ratten said from Visy Park on Saturday morning.

"He won a fair bit of the ball in close, a lot of handball. I thought that was very impressive."

McLean played just six games last season after being swapped by Melbourne for the No.11 draft selection during the 2009 trade period.

He missed a large chunk of the middle stages of the season due to injury and couldn't force his way back into the side as Carlton made its way to a second finals appearance in two years.

Mature-aged recruit Nick Duigan was also impressive, as he amassed a number of possessions and displayed great composure off half-back.

The 2010 draft smoky can consider himself a certainty to be named in Carlton's NAB Cup team to face Richmond and Collingwood at Etihad Stadium on February 12.

"As a 26-year-old he sees the opportunity as a big one in his life and you can see that in the way he plays," Ratten said.

"He's very hard at it and wants to make a big splash at our football club."

The Blues plan to keep Judd in cotton wool for another couple of weeks but Ratten said his skipper would have been right to play this weekend if it had have been round one.

Other players to shine on Saturday were Andrew Walker, who took a big mark and kicked three goals playing as a forward for most of the game, Chris Yarran, who offered creativity off half-back, and Jarrad Waite, who spent all of his time up forward.

First-round draftee Matthew Watson also caught the eye after he was shifted to a key defensive post halfway through the match.