HIS NAME on the locker at IKON Park.

Sam Docherty would be lying if he said it wasn’t something he’d been thinking about the moment he walked into his boyhood club back in 2013.

Of course, it was an outcome which seemed an eternity away when the co-captain missed two consecutive years due to back-to-back knee injuries.

Now ready to notch up a century of games in the Navy Blue, Docherty reflected on the milestone when speaking on Carlton’s SEN membership day.

With his boyhood affinity for the Navy Blue well-documented, Docherty said it was a game which would be even more poignant when he eventually called time on his career.

“When any player walks into a football club, one of the things they look at straight away is the name on their lockers and how to get onto it,” Docherty said.

“It’s definitely something I looked at as soon as I walked into the Club, seeing the names. I always dreamed of being able to put my name up there.

“There’s significance from a history point of view at the Club and it’s always something you’re pretty proud of when you finish.

“Growing up a Blues fan always add another layer to it.”

The more significant milestone that Docherty is eyeing is one of team success: more specifically, his first taste of finals football at the eighth time of asking.

07:50

Teague: We need to be up for the challenge

David Teague spoke to media ahead of the Round 5 home clash with Port Adelaide.

Docherty felt the team was in the best position since he’s been at the Club to achieve that goal, but the Blues couldn’t afford to rest on their laurels.

Mentioning that the differential between the team’s best and worst had been reduced significantly in recent years, Docherty said the hunger of the playing group was something that couldn’t waver in the coming weeks.

“Bridging that gap to play a consistent brand of footy so you don’t have to be at your best to win every game of football is what the best sides do,” he said.

“I’ve said in the past that we’re under no illusions that we need to work bloody hard as a playing group and as a football club to be able to earn the right to be there.

“Every club aims to play finals, but it’s always the hard work and the results base that you need to get done during the year. We’re a group that is really hungry to be able to do that.”