SAM DOCHERTY plans to begin running again in the next fortnight as he recovers from a second successive ACL injury, with the Carlton co-captain set for a greater role from the Blues bench in 2019.

The star defender became an integral figure on the club's bench during his year out of the game last season, with Carlton expecting his off-field importance to grow further due to the limitations placed on runners ahead of the upcoming campaign.

Docherty was charged with the task of transferring messages from coaches to players as they made their way from the field last season, with the newly introduced restrictions on runners set to see his role of delivering duties become more pivotal throughout the year.

"By virtue of what they've done with the runners, it steps my role up a little bit," Docherty told the club's website on Wednesday.

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"I was the way (the messages got) down from the coaches last year and then we had the runner run everything out. This year, there's going to be a lot on the guys who are on the bench explaining the messages to the players and then the players taking them out.

"It's a bit of a different way of going about it compared to previous years, mainly because of the restrictions they've put around the runners. It will be interesting and I'm excited to see the differences and how hard or easy it's going to be."

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Docherty recently returned from a trip to the United States, but hopes he will take a significant step in his recovery at some stage over the next two weeks when he begins running again.

He has been completing cross-training and rehab weights since sustaining the injury to his troublesome left knee in December, but says he is "striving" to finally make his return this season.

"I'll be running hopefully in two weeks, I've just got to tick that off with the surgeon," Docherty said.

"That's my next milestone and what I'm looking forward to. But we're back into games, so I'll be back into the role I stepped into last year and back on the bench."