Zach Tuohy thought at first that he may not have moved the ball enough from right to left as he would have hoped, but said his set-shot after the siren to win Geelong the game by two points over Melbourne was a "special moment".

"It did start on the right goal post and I wasn't sure how much it was going to come inside and I was just thinking, 'Don't clip the inside (of the post)’," Tuohy said in a jubilant Geelong rooms after the game.

"That would have been worse than just missing but fortunately I do tend to move the ball a little right to left when I kick anyway."

Tuohy, who was swung forward in a move made by defensive coach Matthew Scarlett to start the final term, took a contested mark against a lunging Neville Jetta 35m out from goal with less than five seconds on the clock.

Geelong trailed by four points at that stage and the Irishman knew there wasn't long left in the game when he got to his feet. He even made sure that he was able to run down the clock in a conversation with the umpire.

"I went back and asked the umpire if I could take as long as I wanted because there was no 30-second time restriction and as soon as I asked, he said there wasn't, but then I thought I shouldn't waste too much time here and go back and kick it," Tuohy said.

Tuohy was mobbed by his Geelong teammates who ran in to celebrate with the defender-cum-forward.

"I carried on like a bit of a pork chop initially. I should've been cooler. I'm flat I wasn't cooler," Tuohy said.

Tuohy said some advice from teammate Scott Selwood in the frantic final moments as he was lining up for goal made a big difference.

"It's kind of a dream after the siren to win the game – it was a pretty special moment and I'm obviously pretty happy that it went through, but even if it didn't I would've been proud of the fact that I put myself in that position to get the win."

Cats coach Chris Scott said it was Scarlett who deserved credit for moving Tuohy forward in the first place.

"Reg (Tuohy) did all the things in our front half that 'Scarlo' predicted he would," Scott said.

"He's a really good contested player and he's pretty cool under pressure too. There weren't many other players that we would have preferred with the ball in their hands at that stage."

Tuohy said he's not likely to make a habit of playing forward.

"It was news to me when it happened. It wasn't pre-planned. I've never played forward (in my career), not even for a minute," Tuohy said.

"It was a good learning experience. No doubt my 'edits' won't be too flash, some of my leading patterns wouldn't have been great I'm sure."