If you’d peered into Jack Steele’s house this morning, you probably wouldn’t know he’d be charging head-first into battle against a lethal Lions outfit in a few hours’ time.

Odds are you’d catch him either putting on a load of washing or giving the new pad a quick spruce-up, returning home from a walk with puppy, Daisy — either with coffee or sushi in hand — or more likely, he’s still fast asleep.

But don’t mistake a tranquil lead-up for a lack of intensity come match-day.  

For the skipper on the eve of a big game, conserving energy and ensuring he is mentally and physically rested in the hours prior is essential, particularly with a top-flight opponent on the horizon. 

There’s no alarm clock in the Steele household on game day, especially for the Sunday 4:40pm slot.

This part of the pre-game plan is the perfect example of ‘less is more’. Only the bare bones will do once the sun comes up, and there’s certainly no time pressures for Steele to get anything done.

Everything is streamlined as much as possible the night prior to ensure clear focus and avoid unnecessary expenditure. Breakfast — overnight oats with fruit and honey — sits in the fridge ready to eat, and his game-day bag has already been packed. The morning’s only pressing task is to take Daisy to the local dog park.

Steele surprised his partner, Jaz, for her birthday last month with an adorable black labrador, Daisy, who has seamlessly melded into the skipper’s morning routine. She’s a bouncing bundle of joy when Steele heads outside for his first venture out of the house for a morning walk and a coffee down at the local.

Takeaway brew in hand, a quick play with Daisy at the local dog park and a stretch (weather permitting) — no longer than half an hour to get the body slowly moving – is all that takes place.

Football and thoughts of the impending contest are the furthest thing from Steele’s mind.

“We do a lot of prep leading into the weekend and I’ve done what I need to during the week to absorb it all. At the end of the day, I know my stuff, I know my plan, so as much time on game day to not think about that is important for me.”

More on that later.

Back home, Steele has already polished off the pre-prepared overnight oats as Daisy runs free in the backyard, periodically standing up on her hind legs while pressing her little paws against the sliding glass door.

For away games interstate, he’ll head out for breakfast with teammates Tim Membrey, Seb Ross and Jimmy Webster for a similarly relaxing, footy-free catch-up, but back in Victoria it’s a casual affair with only Jaz and Daisy as company.

So determined to not let the thought of footy creep into his mind too early, Steele will even take to domestic duties to take him through to lunch time.

“If there’s anything around the house that needs to be done I might jump on that… I’ll clean up the backyard, do some washing, just give a general tidy of the house,” Steele said.

“I’ll try and do that in that period so when I do come home and I’m a bit sore and banged up, I don’t actually feel like I have to do anything… I’ve done my housework for the day!”

Sushi isn’t so much a staple in most pre-game preparations, but it’s become part of Steele’s this year.                                            

Steele and Dan Butler have both built sushi into their pre-game routine while on the road, scouting out locations all across the country for a lunch-time feed that will get them in the game day mood.

The Japanese delicacy is a good way for him to get the carbs in hours before a bruising and demanding contest. And it tastes good to boot, he adds.

Much like the coffee, Steele takes the nori rolls to-go, pops them in the fridge back home for later and might try to squeeze in a quick nap.

Footy still isn’t on the radar just yet. But once the sushi is eventually down the hatch back home, the switch is flipped. It’s game mode.

Steele will procure his well-worn notepad and thumb through his handwritten notes to get himself in the mindset, which cover off individual focus areas and team-oriented tactics specific to that week’s opposition.

“Everyone has been a big note-taker under Ross. He can ask you any question at any time, so you need to be ready,” Steele says.

“We often get asked to review the meeting that we’ve had the day before, so you really need to know your stuff. Note-taking is the best way for that.”

 Visualisation and meditation has become an increasingly integral component of individual preparation, and Steele has taken that in his stride.

Midfield analyst and stoppage specialist Chris McKay helped compile a video package for the skipper in March of this year, who wanted to use the vision available to better see the strengths in his game. 

Within the clip are some of his most impressive moments from his Best & Fairest seasons (2020, 2021), as well as vision from his more recent campaigns. Across the years’ worth of highlights are fierce tackles being laid, would-be tackles from opponents being easily broken, goals being kicked on the run capped off with pumped-up celebrations, clean breaks from stoppage, and even his fiery battles against some of the league’s best midfielders.

It all serves as visual reinforcement for what the skipper is good at and areas he wants to improve upon before he shuts his eyes and envisages himself doing exactly those things against Brisbane.

“The best way to visualise is to actually see yourself doing it,” Steele explains.

“It’s pretty much the strengths of my game… stuff I’m good at, but also what I want to be better at. I’ll watch that, then basically try and visualise myself doing it against Brisbane and take a moment to really set myself up for a big day.”

Steele will watch the video from his car another time when he pulls up to Marvel Stadium before heading into the rooms with about two hours until bounce-down.

“I’m old enough to be able to flip the switch and not feel like I need a routine or moment where I go ‘ok, this is now where I need to get going’," Steele says.

“I feel I’m able to do it at any moment in time, and I reckon a lot of the senior players can say they’re capable of doing that. It’s definitely an issue when you’re a younger player, getting yourself up and about when you haven’t done it as much.”

There’s the usual flow that Steele goes through as the minutes tick down and the crowd steadily filters in from the concourse to the stands. A massage gun to loosen up is always on-hand, there’s the usual strapping and a bit of physio before Lyon’s pre-game address in the meeting room behind closed doors, and in the blink of an eye there’s less than an hour to go until the Sherrin is bounced.

The skipper views the on-field warm-up as a good indicator mood and energy. Connection with each other is crucial. If someone is a bit off, he’ll make sure to give them a pat on the back and a reminder as to why they’re in the side.

Back down in the rooms, the warm-up kit is discarded in favour of playing threads. It’s getting real.

Blood and music is pumping with five minutes until Steele leads his troops up the race. This part of the preparation – the ‘pre-game hit’ – gets everyone firing on all cylinders; the raucous burst getting the heart-rate up, voices yelling and competitive juices flowing as grappling and hits into the bump bags come to the fore.

“It’s the last opportunity to prime yourself for a good day. If you’re not pumped up by then, you’re doing something wrong,” Steele says.

“We all go around and slap each other on the back afterwards, tell each other what we expect from them. That’s a good reminder of what we’re here for.”