North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley says he cannot remember a more exciting time at the AFL club - despite his side's 70-point defeat to Geelong and the uncertainty over his own future.

The Cats swept aside the Kangaroos with ease in the first half at Skilled Stadium on Saturday, booting 10 of the first 11 goals on their way to an eighth straight win, 18.11 (119) to 7.7 (49).

Geelong racked up 145 more disposals and their forward line reflected the dominance, even though Steve Johnson did not kick a goal and Gary Ablett (adductor) and Paul Chapman (back) sat the game out.

At one point, after David Wojcinski's long bomb on the run, Geelong led 64-8 and a massacre beckoned, but the Roos held their own in the second half.

Although disappointed by the size of the defeat, Laidley drew encouragement from the performances of his young side, which contained six youngsters to have played 10 or less games.

"The margin is really disappointing, but at the end of the day you saw our future today and I reckon that's fantastic," Laidley said.

"We've played the most players (33) in the competition and we've had the most debutants (five) in the competition, which is great."

"... for me, and I've said this through the pre-season, this is the most exciting time I've had at the footy club.

"You always want to give a good account of yourself, but I'm having a great time at the moment."

Laidley is one of seven coaches who will come out of contract at the end of the season and Saturday's defeat left North languishing at 13th, with a 3-5 record and poor percentage of 77.64.

But he put a positive spin on North's situation given injuries - the Roos lost Daniel Wells (hip) and Brady Rawlings (calf) before the game - had forced him to turn to youngsters early.

"For me it hasn't always been about wins and losses," he said.

"I'll publicly state that we set ourselves to finish in the finals.

"But the week before the first game we didn't have an injury, we didn't have an injury over the whole pre-season, but Cruize Garlett went down the week before the first game and it's deteriorated badly from that time."

Geelong coach Mark Thompson was pleased with another even team performance, which began with a five-goal quarter against the breeze.

Jimmy Bartel and Shannon Byrnes both kicked three goals, Johnson set up plenty with his vision and passing, James Kelly picked up a game-high 36 disposals, and Andrew Mackie (two goals), Matthew Scarlett and Harry Taylor all enjoyed trouble-free days in defence.

Thompson was also pleased with the way the forward line functioned, as Byrnes, Travis Varcoe and Mathew Stokes were all dangerous crumbing off marking targets Cameron Mooney and Tom Hawkins.

"Hawk and Moons are working together well with Stevie Johnson, and having (Max) Rooke there, he knows what's going on with those guys, and having three small forwards with lots of rotations (gives) lots of options," he said.

"We've kicked 100 points again for the eighth week in a row."

Ablett and Chapman should both play the Western Bulldogs on Friday night but an ankle injury to defender Darren Milburn will keep him sidelined for at least one game.

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