Geelong will enter the AFL finals without having beaten a top-eight side in 10 weeks, unless they down Collingwood on Friday night, but the prospect doesn't alarm coach Chris Scott.

After starting his coaching career with a record 13-match winning streak, the Cats have lost three of their past eight.

Their only wins in that time have come against clubs ranked 11th or lower, including a close shave against Adelaide in round 21.

Since then, they have had the bye before suffering an upset loss to Sydney on Saturday, their first defeat at Skilled Stadium in four years.

But, Scott insists that finals preparations are very much on track.

"We would have liked to have played better last weekend but it's certainly not a disaster," Scott told reporters on Wednesday.

"We think that we're in really good shape going into a finals series.

"We put a number of things in place as far back as November and it's gone pretty much according to plan."

Scott will not panic, even if his players fail to find their best against the Magpies on Friday night.

"If we played poorly this weekend, we'd look back on it and say we would have liked to have played better but it's not the end of the world," he said.

"I'm pretty confident we'll play well and we'll play better in the next month."

Perhaps the Cats take confidence from the similar pattern of their most recent premiership year in 2009.

Like this year, they began with a 13-game winning streak, and as will be the case if they lose on Friday night, lost four of their last nine home-and-away games.

But they produced their best when it counted and Scott is backing his finals-hardened squad to do so again.

Asked about 2009 Norm Smith Medallist Paul Chapman not striking top form in recent weeks, Scott tipped he would do so on the big stage.

"He's a proven big-game performer, as a lot of our guys are. Maybe that's why our underlying confidence is pretty strong," he said.

Veteran Darren Milburn and youngster Mitch Duncan are likely to return from injury against the Magpies.

But Scott would not guarantee a return for key forward Cameron Mooney, who missed the Swans clash through suspension, although he said not playing the Magpies would not preclude a finals return.

Key defender Harry Taylor (concussion) is in doubt and Joel Corey (groin) will almost certainly remain sidelined but is expected to return for Geelong's opening final.

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