CARLTON coach Brett Ratten believes a bit of confidence could lead to rapid improvement for his young side.

Ratten’s men resumed training from their Christmas break on Monday and the Blues' coach was pleased with the way his side had returned from their time off.

Just how much Carlton can improve is a mystery – even for the man in charge of one of the AFL's most exciting lists.

“That’s the hard one … when you’ve got young men that haven’t had great experience on the track, how far can they go?” Ratten said.

“That’s the big question I throw to the group.

“I think with a bit of confidence our group can grow very quickly. How far? You know, it’s a bit like a piece of string - how far can it go?

“We need to get off to a good start [to the season] and we’ll be under pressure to do that and we want to do that.”

Just as the Blues’ potential is uncertain, the club will also take a trip to another unknown next month when the playing group travels to South Africa.

Carlton will promote Australian Football, including playing a match against Fremantle during their 17-day trip to Africa – an experience Ratten believes will be invaluable for his young group.

“We haven’t been away as a team for six or seven years,” Ratten said.

“We’ve had the community camps for a few days here and there but it’s very important for us to get to know each other a lot more.

“The bonding issue, you know, over there, you can’t ring your mates up or drop round or nick off or do what you want to do. You’ve got to be together.

“And we’ll do some things that will bring the boys a bit closer together.”

Several players will also be closer to making their full-scale comebacks in South Africa.

Andrew Walker (shoulder) is likely to start competitive work around that time, Nick Stevens is back and should play throughout the pre-season while the club’s highest-profile recruit is also getting closer to full training.

Ratten said Chris Judd was “going well” as he recovered from his adductor release surgery and remained on-track to play round one of the AFL season – although an early NAB Cup start looks doubtful.

“If anyone’s a little bit underdone, they won’t play,” Ratten said.

While yet to resume a full load of training, the Blues coach said Judd’s aura had almost worn off and he was close to becoming just one of the boys.

“I think they watch him pretty intensely, though, you know [Marc] Murphy and [Bryce] Gibbs and these boys, watch what he does around the place,” he said.

“You know he runs [Princes] Park by himself and he runs 10 minutes 30 seconds and the boys I think are just gobsmacked that he’s doing it by himself.

“I think they are in awe of what he does around the place, but I think they’re learning from him as well which is fantastic.”