Sydney Swans midfielder Kieren Jack has revealed a Gary Ablett master-class in the club's heavy loss to Geelong in Round 18 has helped him become one of the AFL's most consistent players heading into the finals.
Jack has easily been Sydney's most consistent player over the last month as the Swans have put together four straight wins to head into the finals as one of the competition's form sides.
The Swans meet Carlton in an elimination semi-final at ANZ Stadium on Sunday and will be strong favourites to at least make it to the second week of the finals.
But it wasn't looking so rosy five weeks ago when the Swans' finals hopes were in jeopardy after a heavy defeat at the hands of Geelong.
Jack said the pain of the 53-point loss to the Cats in July, when Ablett and his midfield mates blew the Swans away, had been the wake-up call he needed.
"It was a bit of an eye-opener for me against Geelong," Jack said.
"The hardness and the contested side of footy, I wasn't happy with after that game."
"I sat down with the coaches and went through a lot of vision and pretty much, for me, just narrowed it down to wanting to be hard and be a two-way player."
"It just seems to be coming off the last four or five weeks."
Renowned for his defensive skills, Jack was regularly used for tagging roles by coach Paul Roos when he first started playing in the AFL.
That has meant lining up on the likes of the game's elite players Ablett and Chris Judd on a weekly-basis and the 23-year-old says learning from the competition's superstars has helped with his own development.
"The things that you pick up playing on those sorts of players week in, week out has been amazing," Jack said."
"I've played nearly 70 games now so I've definitely got a lot of knowledge and now I'm starting to use that the other way."
"As a young kid playing on those sorts of players, they take you to the footy and they teach you a few tricks. "
"Now it's all sort of coming together; I can read the play a bit more and try to hurt the opposition."
Jack has been able to develop the attacking side of his game much more this season, meaning he has to cope with more attention from opposition taggers.
"I had someone come to me for a bit on the weekend as well and it's probably the next sort of phase in my career now," he said.
"If I'm continuing to play the way I am, I probably might get a little more attention.
"We've spoken about that and it's a challenge, and it's something that I'm looking forward to."
Jack, who lined up on Judd when the Swans met Carlton earlier this season, said he expects to go head-to-head with the Blues star again on Sunday.
Asked what the team's expectations were in the finals, Jack said: "It's do or die now, one poor game and you're out and the season's finished so we're not going to get too far ahead of ourselves."
"We've got a massive game and we'll prepare for that."
"If we keep playing good footy there's no reason why we can't keep going."