After a quiet first two months of the season, the midfielder has been in terrific touch since round eight, averaging 28 disposals a game and getting back to his dynamic and damaging best.
"I reckon if I judge just my last seven weeks as a block, it's probably career-best footy, really. I'm running on top of the ground, I'm fit, I've done a lot more work during the season fitness-wise," Zaharakis told AFL.com.au.
That has been a team-wide tweak for the Bombers, who have been put through more fitness sessions between matches than in previous years in an attempt to make sure they last the season rather than fall away towards the end, as has been the case in recent years.
They are hitting the bikes more during the week and using the altitude rooms more in-season, as well as continuing with their weights program.
Having endured a horror run of soft-tissue injuries in 2012, and some setbacks last season, Zaharakis said the club had previously shied away from in-season fitness training, but has felt the impact of an altered program this year.
"We didn't really do much cross training as a whole group over the last two years. We've always had maybe a couple of injuries and then we'd get afraid and not do as much training and that kind of thing," he said.
"We had a presentation the other day saying we're doing on average three more conditioning sessions a month than what we did the year before and in previous years. We're actually doing a lot more training, which I find is helping my footy in preparing better each week.
"I've noticed a massive difference, and I'm going into games knowing I've done a watt bike, or an extra fitness session during the week, [which means] on the weekend I can trust my body a bit extra and win a bit more of the footy or run further in games.
"It's probably [helped] to play my best footy at the moment."
After a relatively injury-free pre-season, and a reasonable run through its 2014 campaign, any concern about of overtraining has diminished.
Zaharakis and other midfielders have wanted to do more work and felt able to complete it, and aren't concerned they will head into games fatigued or pick up injuries, but are instead confident they can run out four quarters.
It is a reason why Zaharakis is optimistic that the Bombers, who sit one win outside the top eight in 10th position on the ladder, can finish the season strongly after a season-best win over Port Adelaide last week at Adelaide Oval.
"Everyone knows, our fans know, we've died off in the last six to 10 weeks in previous years, whereas I don't think that will happen this year because we've done a lot more work during the season to keep us fit for the end of the year," he said.
