PRESSURE never goes out of style in football, and it was at the forefront of Brad Close's mind in Geelong's nail-biting six-point qualifying final win over Collingwood.

The small forward recorded 28 pressure acts – the third-highest on the field behind teammates Tom Atkins (31) and Mark Blicavs (29) – kicking two goals from his 11 disposals and six tackles in the process.

CATS v MAGPIES Full match coverage and stats

"It was nice to kick a couple of goals tonight. It was a high-intensity game, and that was my role, to keep bringing pressure, and hopefully we can do that in the next couple of weeks," Close told AFL.com.au.

"It was a pretty crazy last few minutes. Going a goal up we knew there wasn't too long to go, we've had plenty of those moments like this throughout the year, we knew we could back ourselves in and get the job done.

"I don't think we'd played our best footy, but it was good to know if we stuck with our game, we keep grinding them down – I guess we wore them down in the last quarter and got a couple of good goals on the board, and hung on, luckily."

Fellow forward Gary Rohan caught all the headlines for his three-goal performance, including a vital contested mark and major to put the Cats one point ahead late in the game.

Rohan's star turn came after he had come under enormous external pressure for his record in finals prior to Saturday night's game.

"Unbelievable, Gary was. He's had a good last month where he's kicked some crucial goals for us. To go back and slot that last one, under pressure, big crowd, credit to him, he played really well," Close said.

"We've had a hub for the past few years and limited crowds, so it was great seeing how many Geelong fans were there.

"At times, you couldn't even hear the whistle go, but it was great to have fans there and obviously it was a good game of footy for them."

The win also marked the first time Geelong had won a match in the first week of finals since 2016, but Close said the Cats' unfortunate record wasn't spoken about in the lead-up to the game.

"Not at all. We knew we've had a good season from the beginning," he said.

"We've put some good wins in the bank and were ready for this week. We had a good week on the track with the bye, and we were ready."