Hatred and envy will drive Collingwood in Friday night's blockbuster AFL preliminary final against Geelong at the MCG, according to Cats coach Mark Thompson.

It will be the third preliminary final meeting in four years for this season's two best-performed clubs.

Geelong won the previous two, en route to their 2007 and 2009 premierships, including handing the Magpies a 73-point drubbing last year.

Thompson expected the Cats' record of two flags in the past three grand finals, while no Magpie other than ex-Sydney ruckman Darren Jolly is a premiership player, would be eating at Collingwood.

"They're just chipping away at trying to get a great team going," Thompson said.

"I've got no doubt that they're a little bit jealous of us and envious of what we've achieved and that they're after us.

"We've got to have as much hatred for them as what they have for us and I'm sure they probably hate us."

While the Magpies have the weekend off, courtesy of their big qualifying final victory over the Western Bulldogs, the Cats tuned up for the preliminary final clash with an extremely comfortable 20.15 (135) to 10.6 (66) semi-final win over Fremantle on Friday night.

Thompson said he was happy to have kept playing, to continue a routine, with the preliminary final to be the club's third straight Friday night MCG final.

He suggested Collingwood's break, which the Cats experienced the past three seasons, could be harder to cope with.

"We've just been able to go through that normal process and to play is a good thing," he said.

"You always get quite nervous when you're not playing, when you're not coaching, when you're not involved in the match.

"Because it's a massive game next week, it's an absolutely massive game, so we were pleased with the way this week's gone."

Thompson said there were some "terrific signs" in the way Geelong surged home in their narrow qualifying final loss to St Kilda and then blasted the Dockers away with an 8.1 to 1.1 opening term.

He said they also used the Fremantle clash to practice aspects of their game they will use against Collingwood.

One of those is probably patient possession football to move the ball from defence, which proved effective in preventing Fremantle mounting a comeback in the second and third terms, and could be important against the Magpies' full-field press.

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