Geelong key forward James Podsiadly says the Cats don’t have an advantage over their AFL grand final opponents Collingwood despite their contrasting preliminary final victories.

While the Cats cruised to a 48-point win over West Coast, the Magpies came from behind and scrambled to a last-ditch three-point victory over Hawthorn in an epic encounter.

But Podsiadly says there’s no correlation between the margins and intensity of preliminary finals and grand final winners.

“I don’t think its an advantage at all,” he said on Monday in Geelong.

“If you look through history there’s probably teams who have just won the prelim final and come up and won the grand final and teams who have won the prelim final by a heap of goals and have won the grand final.

“There’s no difference, I think, but we’re happy with our preparation.”

Podsiadly said the possible loss of Steve Johnson to a knee injury would be a big blow to the Cats.

But he believed Johnson, who was in a hyperbaric chamber in Melbourne on Monday, would play on Sunday at the MCG.

“He’ll do everything he can to get up for the game but I’m confident he will,” Podsiadly said of Johnson.

“I think he’s our best forward and to win a grand final you need your best players out there.”

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