Collingwood have been waiting patiently for their chance to kill off Geelong's premiership hopes and Cats midfielder James Kelly knows there'll be plenty of feeling in next Friday night's preliminary final.

The AFL defending premiers suffered an upset loss to St Kilda in last week's qualifying final and returned to something vaguely in the vicinity of their best form with a 69-point win over Fremantle in Friday night's semi-final at the MCG.

The victory sets up a preliminary final against the Magpies for the third time in four years, with Geelong winning in 2007 (by five points) and 2009 (by 73) on their way to grand final success the following week.

"There's a lot of feeling against them," Kelly said after carving up the Dockers with a 31-possession performance as the Cats ended Fremantle's season 20.15 (135) to 10.6 (66).

"I'm sure they (Collingwood) will be keen to take revenge for the last couple of years and we want to win as well so it's going to be a very good game."

Kelly says while the Magpies will be stirred to inflict some misery on the Cats after the heartbreak of recent years, Geelong have their own motivation following Collingwood's emphatic 22-point win in round 19.

"We got a spanking in the contested ball by 44. We only lost the game by 20-odd points," Kelly said.

"To lose contested ball by 40, it's not good, it's not the way we want to play.

"I'm sure that's something the coaches will bring up during the week."

The Cats have lost premiership favouritism with the bookies and must find a way to overcome Collingwood's suffocating zone defence.

"We've just got to back ourselves and play to our ability and have a crack at getting through," Kelly said.

"We're not going to get it perfect every time and we're probably going to turn the ball over quite a few times. Keep cracking at it, keep trying."

Geelong's own defence also appears strong, with tall backman Tom Lonergan having a solid game after returning to the side from a hip injury in place of Andrew Mackie.

Cats coach Mark Thompson says Lonergan will stay in the team.

Kelly says two-time premiership player Mackie remains a classy backman despite a form lapse.

"We want Mackie in the side. He's one of our most important players," Kelly said.

"He's obviously a little bit down. But the sort of person he is and the sort of character in the side, if he gets back in the side he'll be fantastic."

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