Cats ponder Lachie Neale AFL tag

Neale again shapes as a key figure in Friday night's match at the MCG but Cats midfielder Cameron Guthrie wasn't certain whether Geelong would turn to a hard tag.

"It's a tough one," Guthrie told reporters on Monday.

"You don't just want to let someone like that just do their thing, no matter what, and just think he's going to be good and we're just going to let him be good, because that's not the team that we are and the way we want to play.

"But he is going to be influential at times and I think it's just about stopping how influential he can be and just being a really solid midfield up against him."

Mark O'Connor has previously tagged and played run-with roles on Neale, including going head to head with him in round four.

But the Irishman was only used as the substitute in the qualifying final against Collingwood, replacing the injured Jake Kolodjashnij in defence, and Guthrie was uncertain whether he would be called on.

"Mark's done a great job of that in the past, but he hasn't been around the midfield as much later in the year," he said.

"So I can't answer your question (whether O'Connor will come in), but I think we've got a couple of options up our sleeve."

Between the pre-finals bye and having last week off, the Cats are preparing for just their second game in a month.

But Guthrie, who has been managing a shoulder knock suffered in round 23, was confident they'd balanced their training to allow them to thrive against Brisbane.

Star forward Jeremy Cameron, whose hamstring strain benefited from the bye, felt the healthy Cats were perfectly positioned to target their first flag since 2011.

"You look at your list and how healthy it is this time of year and we're in a good space there," he said.

"Everyone's energised and ready to go and we want to attack whatever's in front of us. 

"So it's a really good opportunity for sure, so it's something that we want to grab."