Carlton coach Brendon Bolton has hinted the young line-up which was brushed aside by Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Friday night will be given more time to find its feet. 

The Blues were defeated by 90 points in primetime, kicking just two goals to three-quarter time and had one goalkicker (Levi Casboult) to that point.

But Bolton said the club was following through on its vow 18 months ago to "reset" and rebuild the list, and said it would take time. The Blues played seven teenagers.

"What you're seeing is what we said we were going to do a year-and-a-half ago, we said we (were) generally going to reset out footy club,” Bolton said.  

"There's some tough lessons to learn out of tonight but I've got no doubt those lessons will help us grow."

Experienced players Sam Kerridge, Rhys Palmer and Dennis Armfield were left out of the Blues' line-up but Bolton insisted he was picking the side on form rather than blooding youth at the expense of results. 

When asked if he would need to bolster the side's experience ahead of a clash with the big-bodied Swans at the MCG next Saturday, Bolton insisted the Blues performance was reasonable to half-time against the Power. 

"The (inside-50s) weren't considerably blown out at half-time,'' he said. 

"We just didn't capitalise on the scoreboard."

The Blues were blown away in a third term which saw Port kick 6.10 to no score and win the inside-50 count by 22. 

Bolton said the side lost the battle for territory and was unable to clear the ball from its back half. He also said Port played some red-hot football during the term.

Blues captain Marc Murphy didn't lay a tackle, but Bolton insisted he was satisfied with the effort of the captain and his leaders.

"They're leading really well,'' Bolton said.  

"I'm not going to segregate our group. What I can tell you is it's (about) our whole footy club. It's not about our leaders or our younger guys.”