Like most Geelong supporters, Jake Kolodjashnij didn’t get a lot of sleep Friday night following the Cats big preliminary final win over the Brisbane Lions.

Due to what seems to be annually scheduled road works between Melbourne and Geelong in September, the reliable defender spent four hours in the car up and back from the MCG, but now that his side has booked themselves a spot at next week’s AFL Grand Final, nothing was going to spoil Kolodjashnij’s day.

“It was a long one,” he told ABC Radio on Saturday.

“It was two hours in and two hours back. So four hours in the car all up, I probably got back roughly around 230am.

“I was buzzing at seven o'clock in the morning [today] though.”

Despite coming into the game under an injury cloud, Kolodjashnij produced probably his best game as a Cat. His 23 disposals and 13 intercepts were both career highs, and along with Zach Guthrie, Tom Stewart, and Jack Henry, Kolodjashnij ensured the Geelong defence maintained air superiority and denied Brisbane's dangerous forwards the football. 

Not bad for a player who was a 50/50 proposition to play after tweaking his knee against Collingwood in the Qualifying Final.  

“I was told I was a 5050 chance to get up for the game coming off that knee against Collingwood," he said.

"So I had the mindset coming in that whatever happens, I just want to give it my best shot and make the most of these opportunities.”

And make the most of the opportunities he did, but consistent with this Geelong team, Kolodjashnij was quick to deflect all praise to his teammates.

“I was lucky enough to get on the end of a few marks and whatnot,” he said.

“But it's credit to the forwards and the mids, the pressure they were able to put on and allow us defenders to set up and get the looks and stability that we wanted on the night was massive."