After winning one of the most memorable AFL finals in recent years last weekend, Collingwood have spent the days since trying desperately to forget about it.

So says Collingwood utility Ben Johnson, who said the Pies had taken a "back to business" attitude all week building towards Saturday night's preliminary final against Geelong at the MCG.

Johnson said all Collingwood wanted to take from the adrenalin-charged five-point win over Adelaide last weekend was confidence, something they had managed going into their clash with the Cats.

"When Monday comes it's a new week, so you pretty much have to forget about it," the 28-year-old said.

"The only thing you don't forget is you take a lot of confidence out of it, which we'll take into Saturday night, but we prepare like we always do.

"When you play a half of footy like we did and you have a win like we did, you can't help but to be confident all week."

A veteran of the Pies' beaten 2002 and 2003 grand final sides, Johnson missed more than half of this season following a broken leg sustained against the Cats in round three.

He has steadily built his way back to form, culminating in an important cameo in the Pies' amazing comeback against Adelaide with two vital third-quarter goals.

Those were part of a halftime order from teammate Shane O'Bree, who made a rallying cry to teammates as they took the field 26 points down to build on coach Mick Malthouse's address at the long break.

"We went in with a lot of confidence. Shane O'Bree before he ran out said `let's get the first two goals and that'll put them under pressure'. He was right," Johnson said.

"That's just the confidence we've got with each other. We're improving together as a team and I think we can still get a little better too."

But Johnson said the Pies had a healthy respect for Geelong and what they had achieved over a near three-year dominance of the home-and-away seasons.

"Every year's different, every year your team's different, but we've got the greatest respect for Geelong," said Johnson, who could be a tagging option for Cats superstar Gary Ablett.

"They're a great unit, but we're extremely confident we can beat them."

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