GEELONG'S attempt to ease its reliance on 'Dangerwood' is only in its formative stage, but coach Chris Scott liked what he saw from an even spread of contributors in Sunday's 42-point win over Fremantle.

The champion Cats still exerted a huge influence at Domain Stadium, with Patrick Dangerfield racking up 24 touches and booting three goals after spending more time forward, while Joel Selwood was typically fearless in gathering 28 disposals. 

But Mitch Duncan (30 disposals, one goal) was one of several Cats who stepped up to shoulder more responsibility in midfield and six players booted multiple goals.

Spearhead Tom Hawkins was imposing with three majors and looked mobile, but fleet-footed Lincoln McCarthy (three), Steven Motlop (three) and Daniel Menzel (two) were also threatening in a commanding performance on the road.

WATCH: Chris Scott's full post-match press conference

"They're (Dangerfield and Selwood) still really good players and really important to us, but our forward half looked dangerous," Scott said post-match.

"We also understand and acknowledge that Freo had to take some risks later in the game to try to score which gave us some good looks the other way as well, so I won't get carried away with how dangerous our forward line looked.

"But when the ball went forward – even when it hit the ground – we seemed to have some options that were different to the standards that Geelong supporters have had in the last four or five years."

Scott was thrilled by the Cats' aggressive start as they burst to a 17-point margin at the first change and capitalised on some horrific Dockers turnovers to break away by 39 at the long change.

"They did take some risks and gave us a little bit of a chance but you've got to defend well to capitalise on those as well," Scott said.

"They looked dangerous from stoppages but they didn't really look like scoring from our turnovers, which was a good sign.

"It's something that we think we've done pretty well for a reasonable period of time, but it needs to continue for us to take the next step."

The Cats lost ruckman Zac Smith – who should be available to face North Melbourne – to soreness before the bounce but were able to control Freo's threat from stoppages amid Aaron Sandilands' hit-out dominance.

Scott was especially pleased with Mark Blicavs' 14-disposal performance after a flat pre-season. 

"We've got a relatively different kind of ruckman in Mark Blicavs and he had a real impact tonight after a pretty average pre-season, really," he said. 

"He's been limited in his training and he didn't play particularly well in the JLT Series, but hopefully it's a sign of strong character and a good player who can come to hand when it counts most."

Scott praised Andrew Mackie's shutdown job on dangerous Dockers goalsneak Michael Walters (one goal), and liked Harry Taylor's role bringing others into the game up forward.