SATURDAY night is my favourite time to play.

That's another reason I'll be disappointed not to join my teammates when they take on the Pies tonight.

The crowd, the time, the atmosphere – it all works for me.

What also works for me is my game-day routine ahead of such clashes. This involves ice-cream, meditation, sudoku and maybe some country and western music.

Let me explain…

For a Saturday night home match in Sydney, I usually get up around 8.30 to 9am and do my meditation for 30 to 40 minutes.

After that, I make a light breakfast, maybe a cereal, and possibly watch a little bit of TV.

Then around 10.30am it's off down to Maroubra beach. It's a beautiful spot and there's this little rock pool I always go to. I like to take a gentle dip in its water and finish with a bit of a stretch on the rocks while enjoying the winter sun we usually see in Sydney.

After that, I wander up to this little café near the pool where I always order the same thing from the menu: a serve of pancakes with three scoops of ice-cream.

It's got to be three – always has been!

Once I'm done with the café, I go home, shower and really just start to relax. Maybe if I've got a few things to do around the house, I'll get them done – some laundry – or I'll go to the shops and get the papers for something to read during the afternoon.

I might even have a mental workout by doing some sudoku, which I love.

Then I usually like to switch on the footy. I'll look at the first half of the game and while watching it, I'll probably eat something a little bit lighter – a few honey sandwiches could be the go.

Eating is important ahead of a match. I plan my eating so I've consumed enough the night before and that morning to tide me over for a Saturday night game.

Then it's time for another sleep – although this one's more of a power nap of around 15 minutes, after which I have a quick shower, pack my bag and I'm behind the wheel of my car.

Off to the game.

Music is important so I plug my iPod in and, whatever the shuffle spits out on the way to the game, I listen to.

I have a pretty wide taste in music. Some of the boys like various music genres but I've downloaded a bit of everything: rock, pop, R&B, house, even country and western. I'm not one to fuss too much about my music.

And before I know it, I'm at the stadium in time for the usual 7.10pm evening start.

Of course it was much different when I was a younger player. I remember when I was in the U18s and we had Saturday night matches.

In terms of preparation, you'd just sit around all day and kind of bum around doing nothing waiting for the game to start.

Now, as you can see, I have a fairly set routine ahead of my favourite Saturday night time-slot. And I actually enjoy the mental and physical break.

It all works for me … including my three scoops of ice-cream.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.