It's going to be so much harder for Geelong this time around.
While there is no doubt the Cats deserve to go into the 2008 Grand Final as warm favourites there is equally no doubt that this time they face far better credentialed opposition in the big one compared to last year when they crushed Port Adelaide by a record 119-point margin.
Port's performance in that grand final and their subsequent effort this year in sliding to 13th place on the ladder proved that the Power were false grand finalists last season but there is nothing false about the Hawthorn side that the Cats will have to confront on Saturday as they attempt to win back-to-back flags for the second time in their history.
The Hawks have the midfield capable of matching the league's best on-ball division, a forward line capable of troubling the league's best defence and a defence capable of holding a Geelong forward line that looked out-of-sorts during Friday night's unimpressive preliminary final win over the Western Bulldogs.
While the Cats laboured against the height-challenged Bulldogs, the Hawks looked awesome in the other preliminary final against St Kilda winning by 54 points with Alastair Clarkson's team now having won their two finals this September by a total of 105 points.
But it should also be pointed out that the Cats also nearly blew it in last year's preliminary final - scraping in by five points against Collingwood - before coming out and demolishing Port Adelaide with some of the most brilliant football the competition has ever witnessed in the premiership decider.
And there is no doubt the Cats are a far more formidable side in the day time as opposed to night matches - where they have tended to look more vulnerable over the past two seasons.
Last year's narrow prelim escape against Collingwood was a night game as was their only loss this season, at the hands of the Pies in Round 9 - while their narrow escapes against the Hawks in Round 17 and against the Dogs on Friday night were also night games.
The Cats also have the huge bonus of having been there on that last Saturday in September before with this year's grand final 22 likely to contain 18 members of last year's premiership team.
In contrast the Hawks have just one player - former Port Adelaide wingman Stuart Dew - that has previously played in a grand final as they prepare for their first premiership decider since 1991.
But the Hawks have no shortage of experienced players in their ranks and in winning 19 of 24 matches this season have shown they are clearly deserving grand finalists.
In most other seasons the Hawks would be favourites on Saturday but they are up against one of the greatest teams in league history with the Cats having lost just one game all season and in total have won 42 of their past 44 games - a league record.
But the Cats need to win on Saturday to genuinely lay claim as one of the AFL's great teams - something Essendon failed to do when its three years of dominance from 1999-2001 yielded just one premiership.
In so many ways Saturday's premiership decider is reminiscent of the last time these two clubs contested a grand final - back in 1989 - only this time the roles are