Cats' rise well overdue as AFLW finals loom

Co-captain Nina Morrison has always felt Geelong had the potential to be among the AFLW's best teams.

And she is not surprised by teammate Georgie Prespakis's rise to super stardom that has helped remove Geelong's underachievers tag and catapult the Cats to new heights.

Geelong has thrived under former Melbourne mentor Mick Stinear this year and will face the Demons in Saturday's qualifying final at Princes Park.

The Cats (11-1) are the highest-scoring regular-season AFLW team of all time and only finished second behind North Melbourne on percentage.

"We've been disappointed the last couple of seasons, to be honest, about where our performance has been," Morrison said.

"I feel like I've always looked at the group that we've had and the list profile and thought that we could be playing better footy.

"So in that sense, I would look at our performance and it doesn't feel like it's come out of the blue.

"We've probably just unlocked a few things that were already there and it's just about being able to do that all together and at the right time."

Explosive midfielder Prespakis, the runner-up in the 2025 AFLW best and fairest, has gone to another level.

The 23-year-old has averaged 30.6 disposals, 8.1 clearances and eight score involvements.

"She's put in a body of work off-field as well to get herself in the right mindset coming into games to be able to perform well," Morrison said.

"She's obviously a star of the competition and I stand back in awe sometimes at the things she's doing on-field.

"She's an amazing player but her ability to bring her teammates into a game has always been a strength, but [she's] riding the ebbs and flows of that a bit better this season.

"To be someone that can do such incredible things but then also be such a great teammate has been her real growth this year."

Saturday will be the first time Stinear leads Geelong against Melbourne.

Morrison, who will play her 75th game, played down how much his inside knowledge could help against a star-studded midfield led by Kate Hore, Tyla Hanks and Olivia Purcell.

"We haven't played them, clearly, this year so I'm looking forward to the challenge of going up against one of the best mids in the comp, just seeing how we stack up against them," Morrison said.

"Obviously they're a pretty well-rounded team and Mick will know them pretty well as well.

"I'm sure he'll have some little things that we can draw on but I think a big focus for us over the course of the year has been how we focus on us and do us well. I'm sure that'll be no different this week."

Morrison insisted having to play at Princes Park instead of home ground Kardinia Park — booked out for a dirt bike event — was not on players' minds.