Geelong captain Joel Selwood led his team into another preliminary final. Picture: AFL Photos

GEELONG'S form at the Gabba this year gives it belief it can cause an upset against in-form locals Brisbane in next week's preliminary final.

The Cats cruised through to their fourth preliminary final in the past five seasons after demolishing Collingwood by 68 points in Saturday night's semi.

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It sets up their clash with the Lions next Saturday night in a bid for a Grand Final spot, and Scott said the Cats' efforts at the venue this season filled them with confidence.

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The Cats have won all four of their games at the Gabba this year – against North Melbourne, St Kilda, Essendon and the Pies – and Scott said the venue suited their group. 

"I think our execution here has been good in front of goal and that is an intangible," he said post-game.

"The guys who are taking shots, [Gary] Rohan and [Tom] Hawkins in particular, and even [Patrick] Dangerfield, here it seems to set up well for them for some reason.

"There are some things I have a theory on that I'm not prepared to elaborate on publicly (about why the Gabba works for the Cats), but we've played here four times (in 2020) and we've played well every single time."

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Brisbane will have the supporter base on its side as it shoots for its first Grand Final appearance since 2004, but Scott said it held no fears for Geelong's experienced line-up. 

"The crowd's in their favour, but it's been that sort of year, hasn't it? The three teams that finished in the top five, if you include West Coast, played a lot of games at home in front of a home crowd and that's just a quirk of the way this year unfolded," he said. 

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"Brisbane would be used to it, but it's very rare you get to play an away preliminary final having played four games at the venue in preparation and we're only an hour bus ride up the road which we're used to.

"I think it would be logical they'd be going in favourites, given they played so well against Richmond last week, and have a bit of a home ground advantage, but I think there'll be a few Catters here as well." 

12:09

Scott admitted he was surprised at the level of the win over the Pies given the clubs' pattern of close results in recent years, but that the Cats hadn't been stung by talk of a possible straight-sets exit from the finals. 

"It's hard for me to answer, but I doubt it. It's certainly not the sense I got. I think you'd be surprised how little some people, including me, actually hear about that stuff. You obviously are aware of criticism when it comes, but that's the business we're in," Scott said.

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"I said during the week that if we feel a little bit of pressure we should consider it a privilege. It's hard to get to this stage of the year. There are easier places to be at this time of the year. 

"You put yourself on the line and if you don't come through you get criticised, and that's fair enough. 

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"We'd rather take that emotional risk, put ourselves on the line, to test ourselves. I think it's a bad mindset to be in to have extra motivation because of what people who don't live in your world are saying. I think our motivation was much more pure than that." 

Scott said ruckman Rhys Stanley had been given the all clear after jarring his knee late in the game.