The stencillers are working overtime in the lead-up to Friday night’s match with North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium, with no fewer than four Carlton footballers leading the remaining 18 through the dark Navy Blue banner for their milestones.

Mitch Robinson and Chris Yarran represent their club for the 100^th time, with Lachie Henderson also turning out for game No.100 (15 with Brisbane, 85 with the good guys). Making up the quartet is David Ellard, the first man in more than 100 years since numbers were introduced to notch 50 senior matches wearing 46.

With Ellard on the cusp of the big 5-0, thoughts turned to the outrageous former Carlton footballer Luke O’Sullivan, who famously got to 50 wearing the iridescent blue M&Ms strip and blew kisses to the crowd on being chaired from Princes Park.

That was back in Round 3, 1997, and O’Sullivan got there having missed a record 143 matches either through injury, poor form or the occasional enforced holiday. Cult hero Vin Catoggio came next with the loss of 101 games between game No.1 and 50, with Ellard third for 99 games lost.

Through the assistance of Carlton statistician Stephen Williamson, the following numbers apply to the impending 100-gamers;

Mitch Robinson

Mitch Robinson becomes Carlton’s sixth player to play 100 games wearing guernsey No. 12 – amongst them the current club Director and 1987 Premiership player Adrian Gleeson pictured with Mitch at a final training session at Visy Park.

Robinson also becomes the eighth Carlton player to 100 having being recruited from Tasmania, following Peter ‘Percy’ Jones, Eric Huxtable, John Chick, Simon Wiggins, Viv Valentine, Berkley Cox and Maurie Sankey.

Chris Yarran becomes Carlton’s fourth player to 100 games wearing guernsey No. 13, with a total of 26 players known to have represented the club in the number – Vin Gardiner the first of them way back in 1911 when numbers were first introduced.

In reaching the milestone, Yarran also becomes the club’s sixth known 100-game Indigenous player to play 100 games for Carlton, joining Syd Jackson, Justin Murphy, Eddie Betts (now at Adelaide) and current players Andrew Walker and Jeffery Garlett.

Lachie Henderson

Lachie Henderson becomes Carlton’s first 100-gamer ex-Brisbane. Others to have notched 100 League games before 100 Carlton games are Fred ‘Pompey’ Elliott (12 games for Melbourne), Ted Kennedy (43, Essendon), Vin Gardiner (2, Melbourne), Billy Dick (53, Fitzroy), Jim Francis (61, Hawthorn), Jack Wrout (53, North Melbourne), Justin ‘Harry’ Madden (45, Essendon), David Rhys-Jones (76, South Melbourne/Sydney),Matthew Hogg (59, Footscray), Glenn Manton (21, Essendon), Adrian Hickmott (50, Geelong), Matthew Lappin (55, St Kilda) and the recently-retired Heath Scotland (53, Collingwood).