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Carlton's young star Madison Prespakis is prepared to be targeted by opponents all season, but proved she can fight her way through the extra attention.

Carlton coach Daniel Harford expects his young star Madison Prespakis to cop extra physical attention from opponents throughout the AFLW season.

Prespakis got a taste of it in the season opener on Friday night, attracting a heavy tag from Richmond's Alana Woodward and suffering a series of heavy knocks.

But the 19-year-old, who won last season's Rising Star award, fought through to have a game-high 21 disposals in the Blues' dominant 34-point win.

"She had such a dynamic year last year and was such a prominent player for us and then we lost another key player (Brianna Davey) to the Magpies, so naturally teams will think if you can stop Prespakis you'll stop Carlton," Harford said.

"Pleasingly, we've got plenty more players that can go through that area of the ground like we showed tonight.

"You can try (to put Prespakis off her game) and have a great time doing it.

"Mads won't let you, by the way, but we've got other players who are able to come through and pick up the slack.

"So good luck to you, I say."

Prespakis' efforts over summer to take her game to a new level have turned heads in the Carlton playing group.

"Coming off last season she wanted to do even better and that's a real credit to herself, the way she attacks training and gives it her all," teammate Katie Loynes said.

"I was really proud of her effort tonight.

"In the first quarter she was getting roughed up quite a bit, but she stuck at it and kept going.

"She was very prepared for it tonight and obviously we had her back out there."

Fellow teenager Lucy McEvoy was another strong contributor for Carlton in a nod to the future.

Both the No.2 draft pick, who was on debut against Richmond, and Prespakis are among the new wave of players who have come through the junior talent pathway that's now available to female players.

"This is now a time where young girls who have played the game since they were eight or ten (years old) are now getting a look at this level and they come in as natural footballers," Harford said.

"They're not girls who play footy, they're footballers who just happen to be girls.

"This is the generation that's starting that, so it is pretty exciting."