CLAW TACTIC

GEELONG says it has no fear of taking the long route to a grand final and with history and experience on its side is embracing the challenge of facing premiership favourite Melbourne

in a preliminary final on Friday night.

The Cats only need to look to last year for affirmation it can reach the last Saturday in September after a first-up loss, and defender Jed Bews said that was exactly what they would do as they prepare for a fired up Demons side.

“After the Port game, as soon as we finished we said, ‘This was us in the same position last year’ and we got all the way to the grand final last year,” Bews said.

“So having done it before it does give us confidence that we know we can do it, and we haven’t been very good off byes so we might as well keep playing.

“There are a lot of guys who have played a lot of finals and it does help, but we will just have to see how much it helps this week.”

Geelong and Melbourne have recent history with their round 23 clash decided by a goal after the siren from All-Australian captain Max Gawn.