HAVING sealed its place in the top-four, Geelong will enter next week's clash with Greater Western Sydney intent on locking in a home qualifying final.
The Cats overcame a dogged Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday to win by 11 points and in the process booked their double chance in September.
They face Greater Western Sydney next Saturday night at Simonds Stadium and can clinch a first final in Victoria by beating the Giants.
Geelong coach Chris Scott said his group was ready for the meeting, which could be a precursor to a qualifying final battle between the clubs.
Five talking points: Collingwood v Geelong
"The objective for us has been pretty clear. If we won we knew we couldn't be knocked out of the top four, and if I'm not mistaken, if we win next week we can't be knocked out of the top two, so it's high stakes," Scott said after the Cats' victory over the Pies.
"The challenges and the stakes aren't going to get any lower, are they? Next week's a big game for us. The whole competition [and] industry regroups after that and we'll know where we are.
"They're big games all the way from here."
Geelong dug itself out of a vulnerable position against the Pies, having trailed by three points midway through the last term. Collingwood got off to a flyer by kicking six first-term goals and even held a 28-point lead late in the opening quarter.
Scott aptly described the contest by saying "it wasn't one for the ages", and suggested the Cats would need to look at their record in first terms after giving up another lead.
"Both teams had some class out of their team and that no doubt contributed, although they didn't look to lack class early in the game. They were obviously very good and jumped out of the blocks," he said.
"We were disappointing early, and right at the moment, we don't appear to be a very good starting team. That might be an understatement.
"We need to put some thought into that and make some adjustments to make sure we're not making up so much ground, because had they had a bit more class in their team with some of their better players, they might have been a lot more difficult to catch."
The Cats have lost four of their past five opening terms.
Superstar midfielder Patrick Dangerfield was outstanding, gathering 32 disposals (24 contested) and kicking two goals, including an important one in the final quarter.
Scott said the Cats didn't need to be reminded at three-quarter time (when they trailed by four points) of the importance of the clash, where a loss would have put their top-four hopes in jeopardy heading into the final round of the season.
"If we as a coaching group thought it would help to remind them 'Hey boys, remember what we're playing for here', but we give them a little bit more credit than that," he said.
Important forward Tom Hawkins will return from suspension next week before the pre-finals bye.
Scott said the Cats would do things differently in their week off this year compared to last season, but would not disclose how so.
