The Cats will attempt to end their run of nine successive grand final defeats - five premiership deciders and four pre-season deciders - when they travel to Adelaide to face the Crows in the daunting atmosphere of AAMI Stadium.
Geelong not only needed to beat Fremantle but needed to score a total of 19 goals to host next Saturday night's final after Adelaide's 85-point thrashing of Melbourne on Friday night, but they fell short of that target in winning 3.10.14 (101) to 1.10.12 (81).
It will only be the second time the pre-season decider has ever been staged outside Melbourne after Port Adelaide beat Brisbane at AAMI Stadium in the 2001 pre-season final.
But for Fremantle it was an opportunity missed to reach its first ever grand final after 11 years in the competition.
The Dockers faced a Geelong side missing virtually all of its first choice forward line with Brad Ottens, Kent Kingsley, Henry Playfair and Steve Johnson all sidelined - yet Fremantle squandered a ten-point lead at the final change/
A win for Fremantle would not only have given it a berth in its first grand final since joining the competition in 1995 but the Dockers - who needed to kick 11 goals to overtake Adelaide's total of 44 in the first three rounds - would also have hosted the final at Subiaco had they won.
Instead it will be Geelong who next week will have the chance to win its first senior trophy since the Cats' last AFL premiership in 1963 against an Adelaide side that lifted the pre-season cup as recently as 2003.
But if not for a superb final term from Corey, the Cats would have gone under after Fremantle took control of the game in the third term.
Corey not only kicked a nine-point super goal on the run from just outside 50 metres to put the Cats in front at the nine-minute mark but then converted another at the 14-minute mark after marking 45 metres out.
After Justin Longmuir then goaled to cut the margin back to less than a kick, the gallant Cats finished off the disappointing Dockers with a goal to Cameron Ling and then another nine-pointer to Darren Milburn.
The Cats did a great job to kick a winning score with so many forwards out of the side and credit must go to Paul Chapman for the way he marshalled the Geelong attack.
Chapman kicked a nine-pointer and a six-pointer but was a constant marking target for a Cats' side that was missing most of their focal points.
The Geelong defence also held up superbly with David Johnson giving great support to defensive general Matthew Scarlett while in midfield the Cats controlled the game with the exception of the third quarter with Corey Enright gathering 29 touches, Corey 24 and the improved Kane Tenace 21.
Fremantle relied on too little to carry the load with many of its big guns disappointing with Jeff Farmer and Jarrad Schofield, who made some dreadful mistakes, having just five touches each while even Matthew Pavlich faded after a great start.
But the Cats can now look forward to another grand final as they try to end a losing streak in premiership deciders which has seen them lose the 1967, 89, 92, 94 and 95 day grand finals and the 1988, 89, 97 and 2004 pre-season deciders since their last premiership in 1963.
GEELONG: 0.1.4 1.3.9 1.7.10 3.10.14 (101)
FREMANTLE: 0.2.2 0.4.6 1.9.8 1.10.12 (81)
NINE POINT GOALS - Geelong: Chapman, Corey, Milburn
Fremantle: Gilmore
GOALS – Geelong: Prismall 2, Mooney, N.Ablett, Chapman, Slade, Enright, Byrnes, Corey, Ling
Fremantle: Medhurst 2, Bell 2, Farmer 2, Carr, Schofield, Pavlich, Longmuir
BEST – Geelong: Corey, Enright, Tenace, Chapman, Scarlett, Prismall
Fremantle: M Carr, Pavlich, Headland, Bell, Murphy.
INJURIES – Geelong: N.Ablett (ankle) Fremantle: Hasleby (corked thigh)
CHANGES – Geelong: Nil Fremantle: Nil
UMPIRES: McBurney, Ellis, Ryan, McInerney
REPORTS - Nil
CROWD - 12,042 at Telstra Dome
