Geelong forward Nathan Djerrkura yesterday emerged unscathed from his long-awaited comeback match in Geelong’s runaway 56-point VFL win over Collingwood at MC Labour Park.

Djerrkura, playing his first match since the preseason, completed just under three quarters and played with the same hard-edged flare and team attitude that won him wide praise last year.

In what was a triumphant day all round, the resurgent Cats moved back into the top eight thanks to a seven-goal whitewash of attacking football in the final quarter.

Coach Leigh Tudor last night said Djerrkura, who finished with eight disposals and a goal, immediately earned the respect of his teammates after a brilliant shepherd in the first quarter.

Just second after coming onto the ground for his first appearance in over two months, Djerrkura sprinted 25 metres to lay a brilliant shepherd, resulting in a goal to the Cats.

“The very first thing he did when he came on, he ran about 25 metres to put a block on and it set up a goal for us,” Tudor said.

“But just to see all the players run and embrace him and realise what he’s done for the team was just great because he’s been injured for a long time.

“To see him get in amongst the boys and the very first thing he does was a team act, the boys really noticed it, it was a good result and he just continued on for the rest of the day.”

Brent Prismall was at his dazzling best with 44 disposals and nine marks, while Kane Tenace (28 disposals), Jason Davenport (26) and Brodie Moles (23) impressed.

Prismall said the fact he was a non-playing emergency in round four, coupled with the VFL bye last weekend, meant he was physically and mentally rejuvenated.

“I was pretty fresh, I’ve played one game in the past three weeks being emergency, so I’ve had a few weeks off, and a few days to think about my own game, so it was good to get a bit of the ball,” Prismall said.

“To get the four points was really satisfying because I thought we had a lot of blokes who played really well, especially the younger blokes who stepped up in the final quarter.

Prismall said he was confident he was doing enough to continue to thrust himself into senior contention.

“That’s pretty much the only thing I can do, hope that I get an opportunity and something pops up, so I’m just looking forward to playing well in the VFL and hope an opportunity comes my way.”

On an afternoon where Tudor declared, “anywhere from 10 to 12 players could have been in the top six”, the Cats boasted 12 individual goal kickers.

Scott Simpson and Simon Hogan each contributed three goals, while Dan McKenna, drafted with pick 50 in the 2007 national draft, earned the praise of Tudor.

“I thought Dan presented really well, his leading and the timing of his leads was as good as it’s been for us,” Tudor said.

“With Scott Simpson and Tom Lonergan down there at times, the three of them worked it out pretty well.”

Tudor said the long list of strong performances was indicative of the way the players had embraced the challenge of working their way back into the senior team.

“That’s an expectation of them at the club, that they need to be playing good footy in the VFL,” he said.

“So obviously Kane Tenace and Jason Davenport were really good today, Matt Firman and Brodie Moles were good, James Byrne, the captain was good, it was very hard to do the best.”

The Cats broke the match open with the first five goals of the match, before the Pies clawed their way back to within a goal in the third quarter.

Tudor said it was the Cats’ superior fitness and extra versatility in the final quarter that enabled them to storm home to an impressive victory.

“We tried a few things during the game, when we went back to playing one-on-one in the last quarter and it really seemed to work for us,” he said.

“We were really lucky we got through the game, we had a very versatile side today and we had to throw a lot of guys into different positions.

“It makes a huge difference when you’ve still got a huge number of rotations late in the game with guys that can play in a variety of positions and that seemed to help us today.”

The Cats face Hawthorn-aligned Box Hill at Box Hill City Oval this Saturday afternoon.

“We’ve got a six-day break now, so we need to prepare really well next week for Box Hill, who have got a really good side,” Tudor said.

“They haven’t started so well, but it will be another challenge at Box Hill next week.”