GEELONG coach Chris Scott lamented a "diabolical" lack of pressure and panicked ball use that led to another week one finals disaster at the hands of Port Adelaide on Friday night.

The Cats now sit 1-8 in their first final of a campaign since 2012 and will be forced to front-up in next week's semi-final in Perth against the winner of Sydney and Greater Western Sydney.

Scott's side was swamped around the contest and recorded an alarmingly low three forward 50 tackles as the Power cruised to a 43-point win in Tom Hawkins' 300th AFL game.

"It was a poor performance, virtually everything that could go wrong did go wrong over the course of the night," Scott said post-match.

"A strong part of our game over the years and when we're playing our best, even now it should be a strong part of our game, is we just don't hand the opposition easy goals.

"There were two parts to that, we made some uncharacteristic decisions to give them really easy looks which always hurts you. And it was uncharacteristic for us how easily Port were able to get the ball from our forward 50."

Scott also highlighted his side's decision-making to continually kick the ball to Power defender Aliir Aliir during the first half as a key factor, while dropped marks all over the ground were a source of major frustration.

The loss to the Power was the fifth time in the past six seasons the Cats have produced their lowest score of the season in a final.

Scott conceded the inviting of opposition pressure had caused Geelong problems in "some" finals in recent times with Friday night proving another.

POWER v CATS Full match coverage and stats

"It would be fair to assume that we did feel the pressure a little bit and panic a bit without much system and that's obviously something we have to work on," he said.

"If we had have been better in that area, the whole complexion of the game could've been different. It's not often I actually resort to those criticisms in our game.

"When you have options out and you miss them, you have basic dropped marks, kick the ball to the opposition in your back half and give them walk-in goals it is hard not to focus on that to some extent."

Scott said the Cats would get Zach Tuohy back from a hamstring strain next week but that Mark O'Connor would be facing an uphill battle after re-injuring his left hamstring against the Power.

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The Cats will fly to west on Saturday morning and quarantine in Perth this week ahead of the semi-final to be held on Friday night.