Cats under no pressure: Ling
Geelong midfielder Cameron Ling insists his side are under no pressure ahead of Saturday night's AFL preliminary final against Collingwood.
Ling says the Cats have prepared well in their week off and hopes that, if the match is close, Geelong's finals experience will be the factor which will win them a spot in another grand final.
"There's no pressure," Ling said. "Within the group we want to achieve obviously the ultimate success and that's what drives us and has done for the 10 years that I've played footy.
"We really try to ignore outside factors because we can't control them.
"On Saturday night if it's hard and it's tough you hope that your experience will come out but you never know, that's the unknown of playing finals footy," he said.
Ling said the lead-up to the match had been ideal.
"I can't remember the build-ups in the past but I know that this year we've got a good healthy list to choose from.
"The boys are playing some good, solid footy so we're just preparing as well as we possibly can to give ourselves the best chance on Saturday night.
"The last 10 days off has been really good quality. We recovered well from the game against the (Western Bulldogs) and had a great hit-out on Friday and a couple of good sessions so far this week.
"The boys are all switched on to footy and making sure we go through our process throughout the week to make sure we're in the best nick we can be."
But Ling does feel Geelong need to be wary of the Magpies after their dramatic comeback win against Adelaide last week.
"They're a quality team, a very good team. I think they showed in the second half of the season they were probably the pick of the teams," Ling said.
"They were beaten comfortably in that first final by a very professional St Kilda team, but then I thought they just bounced back fantastically well against Adelaide and just stuck to their game plan and played some terrific footy.
"When it looked like they were completely gone they were able to come back and have a fantastic win.
"They're well-coached, well-drilled, so we've got to make sure we're right on our game on Saturday night."
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