Brady was famously meticulous about his diet, while Federer embraced routine, discipline and life on the road, once having his team learn Mandarin in his Shanghai hotel suite.

Jackson returned this season more physically streamlined. Her ruptured Achilles, coming in last season’s showcase game at John Cain Arena, meant she missed the Flyers run to the 2022-23 grand final series, where they lost to the Townsville Fire.

Unlike other sporting greats, “LJ, “Loz” or the “GOAT”, as she is known, says she doesn’t have any quirks. Rather, her two young boys, Harry, 7, and Lenny, 5, keep her busy.

“No, I have two children, my life basically revolves around those two,” Jackson said.

Leg massages are important, but she said a recent lift on training restrictions had been pivotal.

“For me, it’s just being able to get out and shoot, and I am able to do that at the moment, whereas before I couldn’t,” Jackson said.

“They were monitoring everything I did, so my body has just got back to a point physically. I lift a lot, a lot of weights, just to stay as strong as I can.”

Jackson watched her legendary former Seattle teammate, and great friend Sue Bird play 20 seasons in the WNBA, retiring only last year aged 41, but she has no finishing date in mind for her own career – yet.

“It was funny. After we lost to Melbourne (in game one of the semi-final series), I remember thinking to myself: ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if we lost and that was it for me, after I had started playing well again’. But we won, thank God,” Jackson said.

Jackson’s array of moves, including knockdown threes, and her patented fade from the low block reinforced why she is arguably Australia’s greatest basketball product. And that’s a gold-plated list which includes Andrew Gaze, Luc Longley, Andrew Bogut, Penny Taylor, Ben Simmons, Patty Mills and Josh Giddey.

Jackson has done it all, although an Olympic gold medal (there have been silver medals, and gold at the 2006 world championships) is unfinished business. There have been two WNBA championships and five WNBL championships, with a sixth WNBL title now a distinct possibility.

Chambers said the plan was always to have a fit and healthy Jackson for the play-offs.

“We are going to try and look after her body. We have slowly loaded. It was always about this end of the season, not the start of the season,” she said.

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Jackson is also destined for selection in the Opals squad for the Paris Olympics – which would be her fifth Games, and 12 years after her last.

Basketball Australia will allow her to travel with her two boys, giving her the peace of mind she craves. The squad will be announced later this month.

If the Flyers can win game two of the WNBL finals series in Perth on Thursday night (9.30pm AEDT), the deciding third game will be played at the Melbourne Sports Centre on Sunday at a time that is yet to be confirmed.