STEVE Johnson says he is ready to face Richmond in Saturday's preliminary final, despite suggestions the veteran Greater Western Sydney forward remains in doubt with his persistent knee injury.

The three-time Geelong premiership player and 2007 Norm Smith medallist was recalled to the Giants' line-up last week and booted six goals in their semi-final win over West Coast.

That came a week after he played in a 'scratch match' for the Giants against Adelaide, and Johnson said his capacity to follow that practice game with an effective outing last week for the Giants made him confident his ongoing knee problem would be fine under the preliminary final pressure.  

"I went OK last week [backing up]. Obviously I played that practice game over in Adelaide two weeks ago and I backed up well from that," Johnson told reporters at Melbourne airport as the Giants landed in Melbourne on Friday.

"There's been a bit of talk about backing up, but people are forgetting I had the most game time I've had all year the week before last.

"I'm certainly not expecting to kick another six goals. If I can go out there and play a role, and hopefully as a team we can put out a good performance and get the win, I'll be happy."

The Giants are having a light training at the MCG on Friday afternoon before taking on the in-form Tigers in what is expected to be a crowd of more than 90,000.

The 34-year-old, who has played in 26 finals across his 16-season career, said the Giants will enter the second preliminary final in their short history with confidence.

"I can't wait. It's going to be a big occasion. Our boys are ready, we had a bit of a rough landing but hopefully all things go a bit better from here," he said.