JIMMY Bartel is confident he'll be picked for Friday night's preliminary final against the Sydney Swans, saying he had received no indication from Geelong's coaching staff he could be dropped.

Bartel, 32, is one of the Cats' most decorated finals players but his place in Geelong's best 22 started to come under question in the latter part of the season. 

Who's in the mix for selection?

The 2011 Norm Smith medallist played a defensive role on Hawks playmaker Josh Gibson in the Cats' thrilling two-point qualifying final win, but at times he appeared susceptible to Hawthorn's fast-paced ball movement. 

However, Bartel told SEN on Thursday morning he believed he would play against the Swans, saying his conversations with Cats coach Chris Scott and his assistants this week had been typical pre-game discussions. 

"(I've had) nothing other than the usual footy talk you have with coaches. You review how you played the last game and obviously you go over the particulars of how you play this week," Bartel said. 

"There's a lot of what-ifs, if this happens, if they do this, just be prepared. And then you go through with all the different line coaches – for me whether it's going to see the midfield or the forward coaches – and just get ready for different scenarios."

Bartel also expected key defender Lachie Henderson would return against the Swans having recovered from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on August 23. 

"He's trained pretty strongly. That's one advantage of having only played one game in three weeks, we've been able to get Lachie Henderson right, so I can imagine him coming in," Bartel said.

The 2007 Brownlow medallist understood speculation about team selection in September was inevitable, but said having his own position questioned had been disappointing at times.

"I think at first you naturally get your back up and you wonder what it's all about," he said. 

"But I think being in the game as long as I have and being fortunate enough to play finals, I understand the business. Especially at this time of the year there's only four teams and not much footy news, so some of it just gets generated and created.

"But you can get a little bit disappointed when everyone else starts to pile on top of it with not much thought."