GEELONG wingman Ollie Dempsey will back his running power and instinctive style in Saturday's Grand Final after being encouraged early on by Geelong champion Gary Ablett jnr to lean into his attacking instincts. 

Dempsey was arguably best afield in the qualifying final against Brisbane, charging forward off the wing in a thrilling three-goal performance that proved influential in the Cats' 38-point win. 

The 22-year-old is likely to come up against first-year winger Sam Marshall and 24-gamer Bruce Reville in the absence of injured Lion Jarrod Berry, with young gun Levi Ashcroft also expected to spend time on the wing.  

Dempsey said he would back his running power in the match-ups as well as his decision-making after Ablett and coach Chris Scott encouraged him to keep taking calculated risks when bolting forward from the wing.  

"Some people might look at it as cheating, but I think I just like to read it early and that's the strength and the license I've been given by Scotty," Dempsey said on Friday. 

"Sometimes I get it wrong, but hopefully more often than not I get it right.

"I've been working on that the last couple years when I've gone up to the wing and it's just an instinct of mine that Scotty's given me the license to do. 

"They'll back their contest stuff, so we'll see how it goes, and I think my running will hopefully be a strength of mine."

Dempsey paid tribute to his coaches for backing him to take risks, acknowledging that it took a certain type of courage to make those decisions on the big stage knowing there could be consequences the other way if it doesn't work out. 

"The good thing about coaching in our coaches is like, you might get it wrong twice out of 10 times but you get it right eight of the times and not to coach out the two times you get it wrong," Dempsey said. 

"I think I've learned that early on.

"A big influence of mine has been Gary Ablett, and he actually taught me that one really early that you're going to get it wrong sometimes, but that's the license I've been given and I'll use that."

Dempsey was preparing for the prospect of more opposition attention on Saturday given the strength of his qualifying final performance, with the 2024 Rising Star having 25 disposals and nine score involvements to go with his three goals. 

"They'll have a bit of a plan, and that's alright. We have many good players who will have to step up, and they'll take on the challenges that come," he said.

"I'll just play my way, and we'll see how we go.

"I do feel really confident in my game and in our team's game, which is good. And yeah, just keep playing that way like we have the last few weeks, and hopefully it can go well."

Geelong's running power as a team has been a big factor in their return to the Grand Final stage, with the Cats dominating the rest of the competition for points scored during time on of games. 

The team has a large contingent of gifted runners, including star duo Max Holmes and Bailey Smith, but Dempsey said the team was also being rewarded for its hard work in the lead-up to 2025.

"We do a power of running in the off-season and pre-season working on how we can run out games well, and I think we've done that this year.

"We'll definitely use that as a strength of ours. The stats say as well, the longer we play out games, we play better and I think it just comes back to wearing teams down.

"That's what we'll try to do, and Brisbane are good opposition, but we'll try our best."

Dempsey reflected on a social media reply to Smith last year after the former Western Bulldogs star had posted a photo with Nick Daicos captioned: "Be out there one day". 

Dempsey's reply proved accurate, telling the superstar midfielder, "next year brother". 

"It was a bit of a joke back then. I didn't actually know him, I hadn't met him at that stage," Dempsey said.  

"I was at the Grand Final myself and I thought it'd be funny for me and my mate to say that. It got a lot of attention, which I should have expected, but it was pretty funny. 

"We talked about it earlier in the year that it would be pretty cool if we did make it and repost and he's been great. 

"He's a great teammate obviously, you've seen what he's done on the field, but he's been really good off the field for me personally and for the rest of the team.

"He brings a great energy and spark for us."