Geelong speedster Shannon Byrnes can well remember his first finals series.

After being an emergency through the Cats’ ill-fated 2005 campaign, he got the nod in 2007 against North Melbourne in the qualifying final.

It ended up as a sweet memory, a massive MCG win on the way to a premiership.

But Byrnes said that buzz of excitement that comes with your first taste of a finals series will be a positive for Geelong’s opponent this week, Fremantle.

“They had plenty of blokes who hadn’t played in finals before (against the Hawks on Saturday), but I remember there is nothing like more exciting than playing in your first finals series,” Byrnes said.

“They are going to have a lot of blokes up and about at the club.”

Geelong will take on the Dockers at the MCG on Friday night in a sudden-death semifinal after Fremantle’s upset win over Hawthorn at Subiaco Oval.

The Dockers were fantastic in their 30-point victory with most of their young brigade playing starring roles and creating moments for their own highlights reel.

Byrnes watched the game against Hawthorn and came away both impressed and wary.

“They came out flying in the first half so I don’t think we can afford to come out the same way we did on Friday night (against St Kilda),” Byrnes said.

“You can’t give them their head, because they’ll run with it.”

Byrnes helped get the Cats get back into the game last Friday night after being moved on to the wing in the third quarter.

It was the first time for the year he’d played in the position and enjoyed getting amongst the action after a moderate first half.

“I was struggling big time in the first half,” Byrnes said.

“It was great to get near the ball, I loved getting up the ground, being able to try and win my own ball. I think that’s where I play my best footy, when I get up the ground and try to beat my bloke back or lose him in traffic.”

But he said the lessons from the poor first-half against the Saints must be heeded for the Cats to stay alive in this finals series.

“It was pretty obvious from the scoreline — we were making slow defensive decisions,” he said of the early going last Friday night.

“It seemed so hard to get the ball out of our defence and (difficult) to keep it in our forward line. We have to lift in those sorts of areas.

“It is just knowing that if you can’t influence the contest you have got to think where your man is, and think of the next thing you can do when the ball is coming out.

“It is making quick decisions and being on your man otherwise it too easy for them to get it down the other end.”

With this in mind, Fremantle’s dominant, hard-running defence shapes as a danger area for the Cats this week.

“That is where a fair few sides (attacks) come from,” he said.

“It is going to be even more important role for the forwards to be firstly dangerous to make them play on us, and then be ready to go and get them (on the counter-attack).

“They have some leg speed and can run all day. Playing at that big ground, as I said, they can run all day. We are going to have to match them or we’ll get pumped.”

He said he had trouble recalling much about the round three loss to the Dockers, other than the boisterous crowd was at Subiaco Oval.

“They are the loudest crowd in the league, interstate. They have an unbelievable crowd at Fremantle and it got them up and going,” Byrnes said.

“That crowd lifted them so that’s one thing we’ll have over here, they won’t have that massive support.”

Byrnes said the club had moved on from the St Kilda defeat but it had taken some time.

“It was very quiet in the rooms (after the game),” Byrnes said.

“It was a real rollercoaster of emotions, we thought we had it and it was taken away from us — it was a little bit of shock, no one knew how to react.

“But we’ve bounced back now, you move on and that is the only way.”