‘Thought my year was done’: Blues star opens up on ’pretty crazy’ injury and his ‘lucky’ break

Carlton star Sam Docherty has revealed he thought his season was over when his shoulder popped out before half time on Friday night.

While he later returned to the field and played a crucial role in the final play that sent the Blues into their first Preliminary Final in 23 years, Docherty thought initially he would be forced out the final against Brisbane on Saturday.

But the 29-year-old has allayed fears of all Carlton supporters, saying he has come out of the incident pain-free and ready to play despite things “not looking great” at the time.

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Speaking on Fox Footy’s AFL 360, Docherty explained that he thought “my year was done” when he looked down and his shoulder was sticking out.

Shrouded by the unknown of never having injured his shoulder before, Docherty described the full range of emotions that went through his mind.

“I’ve never done a shoulder so it was sort of unknown territory for me,” Docherty said on Fox Footy.

“It’s obviously out for a fair period of time! To be honest, I looked down and I thought my year was done.

“Shoulders generally aren’t great news when you do them the first time. Over the next period of time it was pretty crazy, my emotional state with where my head went.

“I’m pretty lucky – it’s a bit strange to say – that it was probably the best case scenario for popping your shoulder out and I’ve been able to do a lot of rehab this week and get myself to a really good spot.”

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Docherty described going through “every emotion you can possibly think of” as he was taken down to the rooms for assessment before returning to the field.

“Went down with the doctor and the physio who popped it back in on the way down with a yank,” he said.

“We went down, had five minutes to try and decompress what had happened and think about what we were going to do. Whether I had the strength or the range to keep going.”

He added that in conversations over whether he would continue, he was driven by the knowledge that his team’s season was on the line.

“There’s definitely elements of there’s potentially no next week, so if you’re ever going to put it all out there that’s the game,” he said.

Lucky for Carlton, Docherty was able to strap his shoulder up and continue – even taking overhead marks and becoming involved in the wild finish as he set up Blake Acres for the winning goal.

He said: “By the end of the game I was running on adrenaline – I can’t remember much of the last ten minutes to be honest!”

“When I turned around I saw a lot of white jumpers and not many Demons jumpers. That sort of scares you because you’ve got a lot of options and you don’t know which one to pick,” he laughed.

Speaking of their incredible comeback, he said: “It was a crazy night to be honest… it was unbelievable.”

And the mayhem continued in the changerooms after the game in packed scenes.

Docherty continued: “The chaos of the occasion of the game, the changerooms – there was people everywhere. I don’t know how they were all in there!

“It was a special night for us.”

Docherty said that he will train tomorrow at the club’s main session with no contact after a brief session on Monday where he spent 15 minutes completing sprints on the training track.

The Blues will train once more on Friday afternoon at the Gabba ahead of the game where Docherty will be put through a final fitness test.