Cats crush Port Adelaide by 95 points
Geelong unfurled their AFL premiership flag, then unleashed their premiership form to bury Port Adelaide in a second half avalanche at Skilled Stadium.
The Cats won 23.21 (159) to 10.4 (64), kicking a score bigger than any they managed last season, on the back of a devastating third term.
Leading by 10 points at the main break - after the Power kicked the last three goals of the first half - the Cats produced sublime football to win the third quarter 11.7 to 1.0 and lead by 77 points at the last change.
Such was Geelong's dominance, Port needed the help of a 50m penalty to get into position for their only score of the term, a goal to Justin Westhoff.
The win was the Cats' 24th consecutive home victory, equalling the VFL/AFL record set by Richmond in 1935 and South Melbourne in 1936.
Cats coach Mark Thompson said after fighting wins over Essendon and Hawthorn in the first two rounds, and a loss to Fremantle last weekend, the reigning premiers finally hit top gear.
"It was about time that we had a game where we controlled how the game was played and today it was the case and we probably achieved what we wanted to achieve," Thompson said.
"We were much better. I'm not sure whether we can reproduce it. I hope that we can next week."
Thompson said the attitude with which his players came out in the third quarter was largely self-motivated, rather than the result of any fiery halftime speech.
"I just said (that) they knew at halftime that they'd probably not played their best footy in the last 10 minutes of the second quarter," he said.
"We just realigned ourselves and refocused on the things we wanted to focus on, and (it was an) outstanding third quarter, wasn't it, 18 shots at goal, it doesn't get much better than that."
Gary Ablett, Joel Corey and Jimmy Bartel were all pivotal in the onslaught, with superb ball-winning form and Ablett also chiming in with two goals for the quarter.
Defenders Harry Taylor, Corey Enright and Darren Milburn also had fine games, providing enormous rebound, particularly Taylor, who kept former Port captain Warren Tredrea quiet, while taking eight marks and racking up 30 touches.
Port had few standouts, although Kane Cornes battled hard in the midfield and Robbie Gray (two goals) and David Rodan showed encouraging form in their first games for the season after injury.
Gray was returning from hamstring problems, while Rodan was making his comeback from a knee reconstruction just four months ago.
Port coach Mark Williams said those players' lack of match fitness probably contributed to the Power tailing off in the second half.
But he acknowledged the Cats were simply too good when they hit their stride.
"Geelong were outstanding, they brushed us aside, they made us look like little kids," Williams said.
"There's no doubt about their bodies, their impact, their ability to break out of tackles.
"For us to have the ball and get it knocked out of our hands so many times, the floodgates opened."
Williams said the Power, who beat North Melbourne and West Coast in the opening two rounds, always knew they would be in for a tough stretch over the following three weekends, with defeats by Brisbane and the Cats so far and St Kilda to come next Saturday night.
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