Stung by its narrow loss to St Kilda in week one of the finals, Geelong demoralised Fremantle in the early stages of last Friday's semi-final. The Cats started the match with a rush, kicking eight goals to one in the first term and cruising to a 69-point win to set up a preliminary final meeting with the Pies for the third straight year.
Thompson is hopeful his team can burst from the blocks once again on Friday night.
"We played a fantastic first quarter against Freo, and that's something we haven't seen for a long time," Thompson said on Monday morning.
"If we can do that for a bit longer (on Friday night), we'll be good competition for Collingwood."
With ruckman Mark Blake and halfback Andrew Mackie left out of the team that demolished Fremantle, Thompson admits that choosing his side for this week will cause some headaches.
"It's a hard decision for one or two boys, but I'd much rather it that way than the other," he said.
"It is hard to rule a line through anyone (at this stage). It is early in the week - we've got a few sore boys like we do most weeks, and you never know what happens with viruses or on the training track."
Thompson said he was optimistic James Podsiadly (ankle) and Paul Chapman (hamstring) would be "right to go" against the Pies despite Podsiadly missing Geelong's light training run on Sunday. The coach also intimated that defender Tom Lonergan would remain in Geelong's 22 for the must-win match.
