Tom Lonergan and Lance Franklin will go head-to-head for one last time when the Cats meet the Swans in Friday night's semi-final at the MCG.

The pair have enjoyed a great personal rivalry, and Lonergan can't wait to take on the champion Sydney forward once more.

"We've played against each other a lot of times, starting back when he was playing for Hawthorn," he told Cats Media.

"We've had some great battles, so I'm really looking forward to Friday night."

But Lonergan, who will retire when Geelong's season comes to an end, knows it will take a team effort to restrict the Swans, who have won 15 of their past 17 games.

"We certainly need to attack Friday night like we've got nothing to lose," he said.

"We obviously had a pretty poor performance last week, and Sydney have been in fantastic form.

"They're a great footy team, who've had the wood over us for the last little while, so we're going to have to bring everything to beat them."

Lonergan has been proud of the way his teammates have picked themselves up after the disappointing loss to the Tigers.

"We moved on really quickly from Richmond," he said.

"We've focussed on what we need to improve and it's going to take a collective effort to get a win on Friday."