PLAYING a final on the back of a loss was relatively new territory for Geelong, but the Cats needed to send a message that St Kilda hadn't rattled them last week.

The Cats kicked eight goals to one in the first quarter of Friday night's semi-final against Fremantle to completely stamp their authority on the game and build an insurmountable lead.

Midfielder James Kelly said the importance of a strong opening to the game was stressed to the players all week.

"We wanted to start pretty well. We were disappointed with last week. We focused all week on the first 10 minutes of the game and concentrating on that," he said.

"We knew if we started well and kept the foot on the pedal, we'd have a good result.

"We wanted to have a crack all over the ground with our attack and defence. We wanted to play smart and a bit more instinctively, which is what we've become known for - playing that free-flowing football. We wanted to back ourselves in and play that way."

Fremantle mounted mini-surges over the second and third quarters but never really looked like reclaiming the lead.

Kelly said he was pleased with the way the Cats knocked their opponents on the head whenever they got a bit of momentum.

"It's always good that we can do that. We don't want to let teams back in but when it does happen and you're playing in finals, you are playing good teams [and] it will happen from time to time," he said.

"When it does happen it's nice that we can stand up."

The Cats will go into next week's preliminary final against Collingwood as underdogs.

It will be the third time in four years that the two sides have met in the season's penultimate week and Kelly says the Magpies will be keen to get their first win.

"It's not a bad thing (to be underdogs). The odds don't matter. Once the ball is bounced it is two even teams and it is finals footy. We'll be looking forward to that," he said.

"I'm sure they'll be keen to make amends for the other couple of years and we want to win as well, so it's going to be a really good game."

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