Geelong delighted coach Mark Thompson as they tuned up for next week's big AFL clash with competition leaders Sydney with a 108-point demolition of Richmond.

A week after infuriating Thompson in their upset loss to Carlton, the premiers ruthlessly smashed the winless Tigers 24.17 (161) to 7.11 (53) at Skilled Stadium on Sunday.

Midfielder Joel Selwood, expected to soon sign a new three-year deal with Geelong, was best afield and James Podsiadly, Cameron Mooney and Steve Johnson all kicked five goals.

The Swans are surprise packets atop the ladder with five wins from six games and will provide a major early-season test for the Cats on Sunday, again at Skilled Stadium.

Adding to the occasion, Geelong's two most important players, Gary Ablett and Matthew Scarlett, will return to their side.

"They (Sydney) have surprised probably a lot of people," Thompson said.

"They're playing as (well) as that team could possibly play, they're playing for one another.

"You can just see on their faces and their expressions and how close they are that they're really enjoying their footy at the moment and it's going to be a big test next Sunday.

"The good thing is, we played well, we played the sort of footy we wanted to play and I really look forward to playing Sydney."

Sunday's win was reminiscent of three years ago, also in round six, when the Cats came off a loss and belted Richmond by 157 points.

That proved the kick-start to their historic 2007 premiership season.

While Richmond were never a chance against the Cats, Thompson was determined that his side showed clear progression from last week, particularly in the pressure they put on the opposition.

"It was a big improvement from last week and really the opposition for us today was irrelevant," he said.

"It was about what we wanted to achieve and we achieved a fair bit of that, (we're) pretty happy."

While the Cats will still be without Joel Corey and Max Rooke for the Sydney game, Travis Varcoe was impressive in his first game for the season after recovering from a thumb injury.

Shane Tuck worked hard in the midfield and captain Chris Newman and Shane Edwards battled, but otherwise the Tigers simply had a dirty day.

"They're a blood good side ... they were beaten well by Carlton the week before, we always knew they were going to come out hard," said Richmond coach Damien Hardwick.

"We were very disappointed with the way we played - from the other games, we could always take something out of it.

"This one, we actually felt as if we struggled, our commitment to the contest was poor, we tackled poor, it was one of those games.

"We won't learn offensively through this one, defensively we missed too many tackles, we weren't hard enough at the ball, (hard enough) at the man with the ball."

Richmond's Andrew Collins will come under video scrutiny for his head-high bump on James Kelly in the final term.

While the Cats prepare for Sydney, Adelaide and Richmond will play for their first win of the season next Sunday at AAMI Stadium.

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