IF Patrick Cripps’ first three games of 2019 are anything to go by, he’s taking his game to another level.

If Sam Walsh’s first three games of his career are anything to go by, there’s a lot to look forward to.

Carlton’s captain and new young star combined to full effect on Saturday, forming a one-two punch in the middle of the ground against an experienced Sydney midfield.

The performances of both players in the opening rounds of the season took another step-up on the weekend.

And with it came a spot in the history books.

Let’s start with Walsh.

Twitter’s resident statistician Swamp outlined just how impressive Walsh’s start to AFL life has been.

He became just the fourth player in history to collect 24 or more disposals in his opening three games. The first? Greg ‘Diesel’ Williams, 35 years ago.

The best of those performances came on Saturday, where he collected 28 disposals while also kicking his first AFL goal.

In his underage year of 2018, it was his ability to get from contest to contest which impressed draft experts. That has translated on the field, running 16.2 kilometres — more than anyone else on the ground.

While Walsh has shown himself to be a valuable link-man even at this early stage of his career, his captain continues to do what he’s done since his debut five seasons ago.

After breaking the contested possession record last season, Cripps is on world record pace already: no-one has had more contested possessions than his tally of 67 after three games.

Similarly, his 33 clearances sees him equal with Tom Mitchell in 2018 in second place: Brett Ratten in 1999 had 34 after Round 3.

Senior coach Brendon Bolton said Cripps’ influence to youngsters like Walsh extended far beyond his numbers on the field.

“You’ve only got to look by the numbers. You can go and look at the first three games, it answers itself,” Bolton said.

“What I’m so pleased about with Cripps’ captaincy is he’s driving with this young group ‘the now’.

“You can forever wait to be good in this caper. He message it before the game, there are young guys in our team — you’re ready when you decide to be.”

So, if the first three games really are anything to go by, the Cripps and Walsh partnership is only just getting started.