Collingwood ruckman Darren Jolly has been through all this before, just nowhere near as intense.

The only player on Collingwood's list to have been part of an AFL premiership is determined to relish the build-up to next Saturday's grand final.

Jolly was a member of Sydney's drought-breaking 2005 premiership team and also played in the grand final the next year, won by West Coast.

His wife gave birth to their first child on the eve of the 2006 grand final - Jolly had said he would not have played had the birth happened on game day.

There are no such dramas this time, only awe at the passion and the sheer size of Collingwood's following.

"Especially this time, (it's) probably going to be times 10," he said.

"The following that Collingwood have is second to none, in a way it sort of makes Sydney look small.

"I'm going to enjoy the week and I'm really looking forward to running out there next week and hearing the roar again."

Jolly particularly enjoyed the "Collingwood" soccer chant that was struck up several times during Friday night's preliminary final win over Geelong.

"I thought the roar after the anthem was unbelievable, but then the chant was just ... it sounded like everyone in the crowd was chanting it," he said.

"That (raised) the hairs on the back of my neck, it was awesome.

"To be on the ground when that's going, I actually looked around the crowd and thought 'geez, this is bloody loud'.

"Hopefully everyone does it next week for us."

Jolly moved from Sydney to Collingwood over summer and he has been one of the recruits of the season.

Along with former St Kilda midfielder Luke Ball, who might be in doubt for the grand final due to hamstring soreness, Jolly has added invaluable experience to the Collingwood lineup, while also providing a ruck presence lacking in previous years.

The Magpies were awesome in the first half on Friday night, crushing Geelong.

"I don't think they had a chance to try anything different, our pressure across the ground, we didn't give them any chance to change anything," Jolly said.

"Once we knew we would get on top, we just went away with it."

One of the intriguing sub-plots to Friday night was the ruck duels between Jolly and Tom Hawkins.

Last month, Jolly said Hawkins had been "a bit timid" when the big Cat had gone into centre-square duels.

But immediately after the preliminary final, Jolly had kinder words for Hawkins.

"You blokes (media) blew that out of proportion - I just made a statement that was honest," Jolly said.

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