The Blues smashed Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium on Sunday by 10 goals, wrapping up a finals appearance with a couple of weeks left in the home-and-away season.
The Blues are now sitting in fifth spot, one win and significant percentage behind both the fourth-placed Western Bulldogs and Collingwood.
But a top-four finish is not out of the question with home games against Melbourne and Adelaide to come, while the Dogs have the daunting task of taking on Geelong and the red-hot Magpies.
However, Thornton said the team was not getting ahead of itself and was simply focusing on this weekend's clash with Melbourne.
"We're not looking that far ahead (to where they finish in the top eight) – we're pleased to play finals for the first time in eight years, but we've still got two more weeks of footy before that happens," he said at Visy Park on Monday morning.
"Over the last couple of weeks we've been really good, and hopefully that can continue.
"I reckon our group has matured a lot this year, and that's probably just another step in our development – finals are exciting, but we've been pretty focused all year, so playing Melbourne is what we're concentrating on."
The 25-year-old said the Dees would be a tricky proposition and would have received a confidence injection after belting Fremantle at the MCG yesterday to record its fourth win of the season.
"They were terrific – 11 goal winners over Freo," he said.
"We're not going to be taking them lightly at all – they're going to present a really good challenge so we're going to have to be on our game, that's for sure."
