Renowned high performance guru Andrew Russell has worked with hundreds of AFL players over the years.

He has seen how they all prepare to get the absolute best out of themselves at the elite level.

Some stand out more than others which prompted ’Jack’ to list the Top 10 preparers he came across during his extensive time in footy.

His insight into some of the game's hardest workers is fascinating.

10 - Warren Tredrea (Port Adelaide)

“He worked at such a high level on his craft, and everything had a purpose,” Russell said on SEN Breakfast.

“So driven, consistent and just mentally resilient, ‘Tredders’.”

9 - Luke Breust (Hawthorn)

“Started as a rookie player. Such a humble human, ‘Punky’.

“He’s got the best footwork I’ve ever seen in the game. The ability to change direction, laterally.

“I remember he embarrassed Sam Mitchell one day when he stepped around him, and Sam Mitchell looked at him like, ‘Oh my god, I’ve never had anyone run around me’.

“He came from a rugby background, that’s where he developed it.

“So consistent, unbelievable emotional control he had. He spent so many hours honing his skills in front of goal.

“You want to know why he was so good at finishing? He spent so much time on it. Pretty simple.”

8 - Shane Crawford (Hawthorn)

“He used to run 7kms on a Friday night before a Saturday game and he said to me, ‘I wonder why I felt so flat’.

“That shows you the mentality that he had, ‘Crawf’.

“Right to the end he was exploring ways to get better.

“When he had his knee injury he was doing 20kms a day of walking to stay in shape.

“Unbelievable endurance but also worked on his game.

“Started doing athletics in the off-season before people were thinking that way.”

7 - George Hewett (Sydney & Carlton)

“He is obsessive in finding ways to get better.

“Things like taping his mouth to sleep overnight to improve oxygen delivery during the night to wake up fresher.

“George is not blessed with elite physical traits, but he gets so much out of himself.

“Enormous respect for George and how he goes about it.”

6 - Luke Hodge (Hawthorn & Brisbane)

“He had the greatest transition from how he entered the game to how he exited the game in terms of professionalism. From where he started to where he finished.

“After the Grand Final in 2012 he had a PCL injury, he had surgery the next week. He then had someone come over to his house who did lymphatic draining to recover. Every single day he was having someone come over to his house to reduce the swelling, to increase his recovery. He had an unbelievable recovery from that PCL, I don’t think anyone even knew he had it in the off-season between seasons.

“He did this thing called DNS work, which we introduced in 2012, so during the second half of his career. Which is basically a way of training your diaphragm, your posture, your control, body movement.

“A guy named Mark McGrath worked with him. He got to the point where he used to pay Mark McGrath to go up to Brisbane when he was in Brisbane. He’d go Tuesday night, he would do Wednesday work on him, he would then fly him back Thursday and he was paying for that himself.

“'Hodgey' would fly him up, that’s how much it meant to him in terms of increasing his career length.”

5 - Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn & West Coast)

“He’s the highest risk-taker I’ve ever seen in training, as in he would was not scared to make a mistake or fail. He would just go for every kick he possibly could, he would go for every handball he possibly could.

“He always had a ball in his hand or near his feet. I remember going over to his house one day and I walked in and there was 20 balls throughout the house - tennis balls, soccer balls, footballs - and he would just pick one up and dribble kick it through the door, or handball one through the window.

“Unbelievable footy prep. He didn’t have great endurance, but he found a way, he worked on it. When he got there he just said to me that, ‘Shane Crawford, well, he’s the best runner so I’m just going to go after him’, and he would just attack every rep and try to stay with Crawf for as long as he could.

“Unbelievable passion for learning, as we see now with his coaching.”

4 - Kane Cornes (Port Adelaide)

“Basically, walked into my office day one and looked at me and said, ‘You just tell me what I've got to do, and I will do it, don’t put any limits on it’.

“Obsessive preparer and trainer, absolutely pushed his body to the limits with unbelievable self-discipline and self-belief.

“He basically just said I’m going to be a great player and I’m going to do whatever it takes.”

3 - Harry Sheezel (North Melbourne)

“He said on a podcast I’m wired that way, well there is absolutely no doubt this guy is wired that way.

“His attention to detail is as high as I’ve ever seen.

“How he developed his skills, his training strategies, his opposition analysis, his nutrition, his sleep monitoring, he prepares his own food - I’ve never eaten with him, he has always eaten at home, prepares his own food.

“He’s got a hyperbaric chamber at home, that he uses daily so that’s the levels that we’re going to.

“His weekly structure and weekly planning is phenomenal, as in he knows exactly what he is trying to get out of every single day.

“His 24 hours after a game is so well structured and planned.”

2 - Shaun Burgoyne (Port Adelaide & Hawthorn)

“His ability to be consistent, his routine, his diet, he knew exactly what loads his body could tolerate.

“He did 78-80% of pre-season for 10 years in a row. He did not do more, he did not do less - he just knew exactly what he needed.

“Unbelievable self-belief, unbelievably strong mentally, unbelievable discipline. He loved his routine so much - we used to laugh about this - when we used to train offsite, his car wouldn’t drive anywhere but to Waverley.

“He played 250 games after he got to Hawthorn, and he was told by people that he should retire prior to coming to Hawthorn. We got advice by our medical people not to give him a contract longer than three years, don’t expect him to get longer than two years - if you get two years out of him you’ve done really really well and it will be a great investment.

“We got 10 years. Amazing.”

1 - Patrick Cripps (Carlton)

“I think the best description of ‘Crippa’ is he explores the corners of every facet of preparation about improving himself as a player and a person.

“He’s got an insatiable appetite for self-improvement and helping others. So that’s one of the key differences with Crippa is he’s so into his own prep, but he is so into everyone else’s preparation with the time and energy he puts into others.

“He never sees himself as a finished product, so humble and so level in his thinking. He has chased all around the world in a lot of different areas.

“He knows his body inside out, he has got an unbelievable emotional control, leadership, trying to find areas in physiology he can improve.

“Early in the year he’s getting criticised by people and to be honest it had zero effect on him, because he’s just saying what is real and what’s not real.”