GEELONG captain Tom Harley believes teammates Gary Ablett or Jimmy Bartel could win this year's Brownlow Medal, based on their outstanding 2008 seasons.

Ablett, until his recent ankle injury, had been in blistering form while Bartel's efforts in recent weeks have been stunning – elevating his chances of claiming successive medals.

"Gary's form up until he got injured was as good as I've ever seen," Harley said.

"Probably since he's been injured Jimmy's form has been as good as Gary's was, so it would be nice to sit there on Brownlow night and see one of the boys win it.

"But there's so many good players out there and that's a really tough one."

Harley spoke at a media conference at the MCG on Wednesday in the lead-up to Geelong's Friday night clash against Melbourne – a battle between the AFL's first clubs to celebrate Tom Wills Round.

And Harley was confident that Ablett would take his place for the match.

"Provided he doesn't trip over a pothole or something like that, he's pulled up fine and he moved well," Harley said.

"It's been a pretty cautious approach for Gaz. I think perhaps in years gone by you might have rushed a player back say last week, but he's just making sure he's ticked all the boxes."

On the back of their 2007 premiership success, Harley said the Cats were more settled ahead of the finals this time around.

"Last year there was a whole lot of expectation and the unknown was really exciting and it was new, it was fresh, all those sorts of things," he said.

"A lot of anxiety crept in about this time of year, we were probably a bit gung-ho to get towards the finals.

"Our form not necessarily dropped off, but fluctuated, probably plateaued a little bit.

"This year I'm not thinking about winning a premiership like I was last year as such, so it's more of a level-headed approach."