Geelong coach Chris Scott believes his side could play up to three AFL finals in Western Australia amid ongoing uncertainty around the September schedule.
The Cats will open the finals series against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Friday night and expect to stay outside Victoria for the rest of the season.
Adelaide and Launceston will each host two finals in week one, while the AFL is yet to determine venues for weeks two and three.
A decision on the grand final venue is expected within days, with Perth's Optus Stadium the hot favourite.
The 60,000-seat venue is currently operating at 100 per cent crowd capacity and could also host finals in weeks two and three.
Having been given limited information from the AFL, Scott said he expects Geelong to head to Perth next week regardless of whether they beat Port Adelaide.
"We understand that these things are subject to change, but that's the indication that we've been given so far and we're more than comfortable with that," Scott told Fox Footy's AFL 360.
"It seems as if we'll stay in Adelaide for at least two nights after the game so the AFL can get a bit of a feel for what's happened with the other results (over the weekend) before they move us on.
"But after this week I suspect that most of the games will be directed west."
Depending on their result against Port Adelaide, Geelong will be the notional home team for either a semi-final or preliminary final.
But they won't have much of a say on the venue as the AFL navigates its way through a series of logistical issues, including interstate border restrictions and quarantine requirements.
"More and more it's looking the idea that teams who earn the home final get to choose (the venue) is not going to be the case," Scott said.
"I suspect there'll be some sort of discussion, but there just seem to be other issues that trump the home ground advantage.
"In terms of what we would like to do, we've got people working on that in the background to make sure that people who need to have their heads in this week can concentrate on that.
"But I think it's reasonable to say that it's uncertain at best and our best guess is we'll be going west."
Scott said Geelong will draw on last year's experience of spending months away in Queensland as they look to go one better than their grand final defeat to Richmond.
"We actually embraced last year really well and I think our club can take some real positives out of our experience and embrace the opportunity in front of us to get together," Scott said.
"One of the positives is we will get our whole list together and we will hopefully be together for four or five weeks in what will be a great time in our lives."
Australian Associated Press
