The Ballarat duo were hard at top-secret work in the Captains Room, up higher overlooking Kardinia Park, on Tuesday night doing their part on Geelong Cats' grand final banner.

Mr Allen and Ms Buttler said they were "keeping a lid on" grand final excitement, to not be too overconfident.

But they were absolutely excited to have their beloved Cats back in the big dance.

"We're actually happy to still be continuing on the road down to Geelong at this stage of the season," Ms Buttler said. "This grand final sort of feels like it's time - we've got the players to do it, even though we've had a few misses of late, but who knows?"

Both had front row seats to the Cats' 71-point thumping of Brisbane Lions in their preliminary final at the MCG last Friday night and said it was far more relaxing than facing Collingwood in the qualifying final a fortnight earlier.

This time they knew by three-quarter-time a grand final spot was theirs.

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Navy blue and white is in Ms Buttler's blood. Her aunt and grandfather both barracked for Geelong and now her girls and grandchildren - with a little bribery, she quipped - were on the family bandwagon.

Mr Allen has been travelling down the Midland Highway to Kardinia Park since he was a boy in the mid-1960s. He would stand on a crate in the outer then head into the rooms after the game. All but one of his children - there is a Giants' outlier - and his grandson are Cats through-and-through.

As long-time Geelong supporters, Mr Allen and Ms Buttler know never to take anything for granted. Forty-four years had passed without glory until the Cats' 2007 premiership with a string of heart-breaking near-misses along the way.

"We've had a lot of ups and downs, especially in the early years with the Gary Ablett senior era," Mr Allen said. "Thankfully we got going again."

Both are hungry to get the win for Cats' skipper Joel Selwood, who will break the record for most AFL/VFL finals games played when he chalks up his 40th final in the AFL Grand Final on Saturday.

Selwood also reached his 350th AFL game this season in round 20.

Neither had yet made the move to Cat-ify their Ballarat houses when The Courier spoke to them early this week. They were not quite ready to turn their houses blue-and-white in the style they had seen across Geelong.

"We're full of confidence, but not over-confident."

PAROCHIAL Sydney Swans' supporter Mark Bruty had the daunting prospect of starting a new job this week...deep in the Geelong Cats' "heartland".

Mr Bruty was aware at the passion levels of Geelong supporters but he was still taken by surprise once he ventured deep into the Cats' territory.

The Bloods run deep in the Bruty bloodline. His mother and grandfather have passionately followed the club and now his own cygnets Edwin, age seven, and Mia, are all about the Swans. Edwin and Mia even had the chance to meet heroes like Lance "Buddy" Franklin in a Melbourne-based training session last month.

Mia's favourite player is Isaac Heeney because he is lovely, blonde and wears shorts.

Mr Bruty said his children were super excited for the final, especially after meeting some of the players, and they were ready to watch with one of their favourite uncles...even though he barracks for Geelong.

Adding to Mr Bruty's big week, he flew to Sydney with a Magpie friend for last week's preliminary final and watched the Swans beat Collingwood at the SCG.

"I'm super nervous, but I'm super proud already. We've had such an amazing finals series," Mr Bruty said.

"...There's a lot of nice stories in there: Paddy McCartin would be fantastic; you forgot Luke Parker was only a sub in the 2012 win and he hasn't been able to really make a mark in a premiership.

"I always feel there are a lot of Ballarat links to the Sydney Swans, going right back to [North Ballarat's] Dale Lewis."

Ballarat Swans' links also include Tony "Plugger" Lockett, Darren Jolly, Dean Towers, Jake Lloyd who will play on Saturday and, of course, dual Brownlow medallist and four-time all-Australian Adam Goodes.

Mr Bruty was in his mid-20s when the Swans first won an AFL premiership in his lifetime. He hoped Edwin and Mia would never have to wait that long and said they were at a good age now to really enjoy a Swans' grand final victory.

They will watch the final together, as a family, with a barbecue and are ready to cheer loud enough to be heard from Ballarat.

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