Geelong needed all their class to rise above a sustained Adelaide challenge and claim a 21.8 (134) to 13.8 (86) AFL victory at AAMI Stadium on Saturday.

Inspired by a supreme performance from Gary Ablett, in his 150th match, the Cats surged into a 42-point lead in the second quarter before the dogged Crows closed the gap to just 11, only for the visitors to hit back in the final stanza to seal a 48-point win.

Ablett, who scored three goals and had 46 disposals, was backed up by the usual cast of exceptional Cats, including Joel Selwood, Jimmy Bartel, Joel Corey, Cameron Ling and the pacy David Wojcinski.

Paul Chapman finished off with a fine last quarter to make the game safe, and Mark Blake dominated the ruck contests.

Adelaide were left sore and sorry but not without hope for the future, given the strong games played by Scott Thompson and David Mackay and the flashes of brilliance offered by Jason Porplyzia (three goals) and Taylor Walker (two).

The Crows' best performer was the recalled Nathan Bock, who started in attack before finishing the game in defence, following his return from a one-week club suspension after being arrested for assaulting his girlfriend.

Although the Cats lost Darren Milburn (back) before the first bounce, they began the game looking intent on repeating their 68-point thrashing of the Crows in Adelaide last year.

After just eight minutes Geelong had three goals on the board without reply, Ablett grabbing two of them after Steve Johnson had crumbed the opener from an uncharacteristic dropped mark by Ben Rutten.

Winning more of the ball as the term went on, the Crows were able to recover somewhat and reached the first change just 11 points behind.

Any thoughts they had of edging past the Cats were blown apart in the second stanza, starting with a third Ablett goal.

More goals swiftly followed and the margin was stretched to 42 points after a period that saw Adelaide have barely a handful of possessions.

However, the Crows have plenty of talent in their young team this year, and opportunistic goals to Kurt Tippett, Walker, Patrick Dangerfield and Mackay helped reduce the deficit.

They hosts then threatened to get even closer in a mighty third quarter battle, as Walker and Porplyzia combined for goals.

Jared Petrenko's crisp finish in time-on reduced the margin to 11 points, but the Cats, as they have a habit of doing, were able to wriggle free and notched the last goal of the term through Cameron Mooney.

The 2007 premiers then scored the first of the final quarter thanks to a gem of an effort from Selwood to once again create some daylight between the two sides as they maintained their unbeaten start to the season.

Cats coach Mark Thompson lauded his men for unpicking the lock applied by the Crows in the second and third quarters.

"We knew it was going to be a challenge over here, Adelaide at home are always a tough assignment, they're a little bit different how they play so it wasn't our normal game and it wasn't free-flowing," he said.

"Tactically it was a pretty hard game to get through, so to win by so much is a great effort."

Crows coach Neil Craig acknowledged his players' efforts across the mid-part of the contest but was visibly disappointed to have fallen short.

"We were in big trouble in the second quarter, but to the credit of the players they put in a great fight and you can imagine the pressure they were under out there, so to hang in there and fight back shows me a lot about the fighting spirit of the group," he said.

"But in the end it overwhelms you, it gets too much, and our last quarter would have to be described as really poor."

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