Jai Newcombe is the uncomplicated captain.

The Hawthorn star will lead his side into a home preliminary final against Brisbane in front of a packed MCG on Saturday night.

There will be no fuss, no fanfare and no appetite for a new approach.

By design, Newcombe will simply continue being himself.

“You don’t need to overcomplicate it as much as it seems from the outside,” Newcombe said of his introduction as co-captain alongside James Sicily this year.

“You get to a position like this from the things you’ve already been doing in a way, it’s just a continuation of that, but there’s a slightly bigger title next to your name.

“That’s pretty much the way I’ve looked at it. I got some good feedback along the way about being able to stay who I was prior to the title, nothing changing.

“It’s something I thought was going to be really important when given the role at the start of the year.”

Newcombe is modest. He says the club’s strong position is making his evolution from tough-nosed clearance winner into a leader seamless.

“It’s an awesome year, it definitely helps being a competitive side and the club being in a strong position,” he said.

“There hasn’t been a hell of a lot to deal with and make it harder than it needed to be.

“Sam (Mitchell, coach) has been great, Rob (McCartney, general manager) has been great with my role and what’s expected of me, things like that.

“It’s been really easy to go and get after performing and being the leader that I am.”

Hawthorn is the home side coming off a qualifying final triumph but is still the underdog after Brisbane’s rampaging semi-final victory over Adelaide.

The Lions copped a qualifying final reality check the week before, eerily similar to the one the Hawks received from their upcoming opponent this year.

“I think the lessons for us were probably similar to what they just got against Sydney, to be fair,” Newcombe said.

“We weren’t strong enough, outworked around the footy, lot of those sort of things – a bit of an off weekend in a way.

“Which happens from time to time, a bit of look-in-the-mirror stuff, they outclassed us completely up there.”

Originally published as AFL Finals: Hawthorn co-captain Jai Newcombe on his no fuss leadership