Geelong took careful note of Essendon's publicly-declared intention to take the game on in their AFL match on Sunday at Telstra Dome.

The reigning premiers duly took that intention, shook it around a bit, threw it to the ground and kicked it repeatedly on the way to a 99-point savaging.

The 22.18 (150) to 6.15 (51) demolition featured 462 possessions for the Cats, close to an AFL record.

Five Cats midfielders - Jimmy Bartel, Gary Ablett, Cameron Ling, Matthew Stokes and Joel Corey - had 30-plus possessions and coach Mark Thompson made a point of referring to Essendon's pre-game comments.

"We heard through the papers and the media that they were going to back themselves in, we had a bit of an idea that may have happened," Thompson said.

"I bet next time they play us, they won't let them (Geelong's playmakers) free."

The Cats also had 14 goalkickers, while Trent West, Ryan Gamble and first-gamer Harry Taylor gained invaluable experience.

But Thompson was not totally happy with the performance and dismissed the high possession count.

"We weren't going for any world records today, it just happened," he said.

"(We) over-possessed the ball, something we can work on.

"We played a bit of circle work there for a time ...we had 20 entries in the first quarter and scored four goals, there were a few little things that happened.

"By the end of the game I thought we corrected them, which was a fantastic achievement."

While Geelong emphatically showed there is no premiership hangover, the Bombers were handed the most brutal of reality checks following last Monday's encouraging first-up win over North Melbourne.

Bombers coach Matthew Knights insisted his team had planned some tags.

"We had the plans in the areas we thought we needed to, you can't lock down the whole lot," he said.

"We were keen to really keep developing our club, we weren't going to try to play slow and just chip around ... we were going to take the game on to win."

But any Essendon defensive work through the midfield was simply brushed aside, with Ablett's pace and ball use particularly destructive.

The Cats were 20 points ahead at quarter-time and then killed the game off with five goals in nine minutes to open the second term.

Essendon captain Matthew Lloyd had a rare goal-less outing and was even booed towards the end of the game.

The Bombers' one clear winner was young key defender Paddy Ryder, who was superb on Cameron Mooney, while fellow tall backmen Dustin Fletcher and Mal Michael also worked hard.

Geelong will start unbackable favourites against Melbourne next week, something that means little to Thompson.

"We're just going to go to work tomorrow and review this game, we're going to have the same amount of meetings, we're going to look at the team that we play in the same depth," he said.

"We're going to try to play the best footy we're capable of playing."

Young Essendon utility Courtenay Dempsey will be out for up to a month with another hamstring injury.

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