Carlton forward Levi Casboult is within six senior matches of a history-making achievement which has taken the collective energies of 158 other players through 106 seasons to realise.

Form and fitness permitting, Casboult will make his 100th senior appearance for the Blues in the 6th Round contest with the Western Bulldogs (Friday, April 27) under lights at Etihad Stadium. In doing so, the Hobart-born big man earns the right to have his name emblazoned onto the No.41 locker – thereby becoming the club’s first 100-gamer in 41 since numbers were introduced by the then VFL on the eve of the 1911 second semi-final between Carlton and Essendon.

Further, Casboult’s moniker completes the sequence, in that it fills the last remaining vacancy amongst the locker numbers 1-45 - with 158 more 100-game players before him having claimed space across the other 44 lockers.

Casboult wasn’t mindful of the historic implications of his looming milestone when contacted this week, but he was somewhat guarded in his response. As he said: “I’m still six away, let’s not jinx it”.



Levi Casboult is set to play his 100th game for the Club in 2018. (Photo: AFL Photos)



But for Casboult, the 27 year-old who followed Carlton as a kid, game No.100 carries plenty of clout for him.

“I grew up as a Carlton supporter, so the prospect of playing 100 games for the football club means a lot,” Casboult said.

“It’s nice to think that my name can hopefully make it into the history books and that by playing 100 games my name is on the locker forever.”

Though his father supported Collingwood and his mother Richmond, Casboult’s uncle convinced him to align with the old dark Navy Blues.

Then a kid of five, Casboult to this day remembers the moment.

“I had this Collingwood beanie which I used to fill with Matchbox cars, and one day my Uncle came around and saw it. He said to me, ‘How about I get you a new Carlton beanie . . . a new beanie and five bucks’, and that was enough for me,” Casboult said.

“From that time on I followed Carlton. When I was young my favourite player was Matty Lappin and as I got older, Jarrad Waite. To think that I ended up playing alongside Jarrad, while Matty coached me when I first came to the club . . . that’s pretty cool.”

Incredibly, only 12 players have worn the No.41 into a total of 248 senior matches for Carlton – the first of them the late Ron Auchettl in 1967 - with Casboult the current games record holder.

Peter Brown, a member of the victorious 1979 Grand Final team under captain-coach Alex Jesaulenko’s watch, is the Blues’ only Premiership player to sport 41.

With Casboult completing the 1-45 sequence, only the locker numbers 46-56 remain bereft of a 100-game Carlton player’s name.



Levi Casboult celebrates his first win as a Blue, Round 17 2012. (Photo: AFL Photos)



And with the exception of the No.17, the remain lockers 1-45 each carry the names of at least one living Carlton 100-game player. Charlie Davey, the club’s only player to wear the No.17 into 100 senior contests, died in 1991.

While the numbers 46-56 have been worn by former Carlton players at senior level, none have achieved 100-game honours. David Ellard, who sported the No.46 in 63 senior matches for the club between 2008 and 2015, came closest.

At Carlton, the locker number 1 carries the names of the most 100-game players (eight in all) – Fred ‘Pompey’ Elliott, Billy Dick, Horrie Clover, Frank Anderson, Ken Hands, Sergio Silvagni, Stephen Silvagni and Andrew Walker.



Carlton’s No.41

Ron Auchettl, 16 matches (1967-’69)

Tony Smith, two matches (1974)

Peter Brown, 35 matches (1976-’80)

Peter Rohde, 46 matches (1985-’87)

Luke O’Sullivan, 10 matches (1988-’89)

Jeremy Smith, one match (1993)

Jacob Anstey, nine matches (1997)

Ben Thompson, one match (1999)

Jonathon McCormick, 26 matches (2003-’04)

Jesse Smith, two matches (2005-’06)

Ross Young, six matches (2007)

Levi Casboult, 94 matches* (2012 - )

