GEELONG coach Mark Thompson says it is "hard to know" if his side is better than last season, after the Cats finished the 2008 home-and-away season smashing West Coast by 99 points at Skilled Stadium on Saturday.

But Thompson was adamant his team was entering September in tip-top shape for a crack at back-to-back flags. He added his players were more relaxed, yet confident this year, as opposed to being anxious last season.

"I just know that we're playing great football; we have for five, six, seven and eight weeks, so we're more than comfortable with where we're at," Thompson said post-match.

"They're playing good footy and we haven't got too many injuries and we've managed players' time really well."

Thompson said the 99-point win over West Coast was just what his charges needed in the final round.

"The second, third and fourth quarters were outstanding," Thompson said.

"We were really pleased with it. [We were] hard to play against and we won a heap of the ball and had a lot of entries and we tackled them and it was exactly the last sort of game that you'd want before a finals series."

In terms of selection next round, Thompson conceded it was a concern Mathew Stokes had his number taken for striking West Coast midfielder Chad Fletcher, but added "we'll have to wait and see what happens there".

But he said adding James Kelly, Andrew Mackie, David Wojcinski and Max Rooke was going to make for a fascinating selection committee.

"The guys who were on the fringe, played really well and that was the big challenge for them – Shannon Byrnes, [Harry] Taylor, [Brent] Prismall and [Ryan] Gamble – all of those guys that people would presume would be first out," Thompson said.

"They played a fantastic game and that's all they could do."

Thompson said Wojcinski's preparation was "perfect" in the lead-up to the finals, after battling an achilles injury. Wojcinski played for Geelong against Frankston in the VFL, before the main game.

"He played well. He played about 75 per cent of the game and played with speed – he had about 33 possessions – and I think he's pulled up pretty well."

Thompson also said Steve Johnson "had a day out" and he couldn't sing Cameron Ling's praises high enough.

"He's just an outstanding person, has outstanding leadership and he demonstrates he's such a team-oriented player. It's great that he's in good form," Thompson said of Ling.

As for Geelong's opponent in next week's qualifying final, Thompson said he was nonplussed who it would be.

"We'll just work with the AFL and whoever we end up playing, wherever we play, whatever day we play – it's almost irrelevant," Thompson said.

Meanwhile, Thompson said attempting to pick whether Jimmy Bartel or Gary Ablett or even another Geelong player for this year's Brownlow Medal was a difficult task.

"The only thing that you've got to say is that we're going to get a lot of votes, winning 21 out of 22 [matches]," Thompson said.

"You'd probably think that the Geelong group of boys will get votes and I think they'll all poll – I think Jimmy will poll, obviously because he's [a reigning Brownlow Medallist] and Gary will and Joel Corey will and Corey Enright had an incredible patch there.

"So there will be people getting votes … and [Joel] Selwood will probably get a few too."