The shock home qualifying final loss to Fremantle on Saturday has pitched Geelong into the same half of the AFL finals draw as great modern-day rivals Hawthorn.

But if the Cats are to get the chance to tackle the Hawks in a mouth-watering preliminary final, first they must get past either Collingwood or Port Adelaide.

In short, the quest for a fourth AFL premiership in seven years just got a whole lot harder, after Geelong were held goalless in the final term of the 12.15 (87) to 9.18 (72) home loss to the Dockers, who advance straight to a preliminary final.

“We’re a pretty positive club,” said Geelong coach Chris Scott.

“The position we’re in at the moment, and we’ve earnt the right to be in this position, we’re two games out of a grand final.

“We’ll shorten our focus very much into this week.

“We’re in a fantastic position.

“We could be in a slightly better position, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.

“We didn’t play well enough today and the opposition were good.”

Champion defender Corey Enright was subbed out of Saturday’s match at halftime with a knee injury that puts his participation in the rest of the finals series in serious doubt.

Geelong will also sweat of the fitness of key forward Tom Hawkins, who was a late withdrawal with the ongoing back problem that has troubled him for much of the year.

Fellow marking forward James Podsiadly was amongst the Cats’ best with three goals, but Hawkins’ replacement Josh Walker failed to have any real impact on the match at Simonds Stadium.

“Big key forwards in pressure games where it’s very contested and there’s lots of numbers in front of the ball are really important and (Hawkins) is our club champion from last season,” said Scott.

“He’s a really important player for us.

“You take him out and it hurts a little bit.”