Geelong will meet Brisbane in next week's AFL preliminary final after a superb defensive performance saw the Cats eliminate Essendon from September.

The Cats made light of having lost two of their more experienced players during the week by blanketing Essendon when it mattered to win 10.14 (74) to 9.10 (64).

Geelong was the statistically the best defensive side in the AFL in 2004 and answered the doubters that emerged following last week's heavy loss to Port Adelaide with an authoritative performance that shut out the Bombers until a vain final quarter rally.

By quirk of the AFL rules, Geelong will enjoy home ground advantage when they play Brisbane at the MCG next Saturday night and confident in the knowledge they beat the Lions reasonably comfortably last time they met.

While veteran defender Brenton Sanderson will miss the rest of the season after being diagnosed with a heart problem during the week, forward Kent Kingsley will again be available for selection after a one-game suspension.

He will slot nicely into a Geelong side that was marshalled by the wonderful skills of Darren Milburn and inspired by the canny forward play of Gary Ablett, treading the September stage for the first time where his father had so famously performed a generation prior.

The rain stayed away but after consistent downpours in the 24 hours before the match upon a surface used the night before, shifting turf made it difficult for cohesive play.

Ablett, under a cloud with an ankle injury in the lead-up to the match, was the decisive player in the first quarter as Essendon suffered a succession of first-half injury setbacks.

After All Australian Adam McPhee was unable to take his place in the side due to a hamstring injury, the Bombers then lost Dustin Fletcher to a corked thigh and Ted Richards to a heavy concussion in the first term before retiring backman Sean Wellman suffered a shoulder injury in the second term.

As the Bombers counted their wounded, Geelong extended its half-time lead to 26 points, with Essendon's 1.6 in the first half representing the lowest half-time score in a final since 1963.

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