With these sides likely to meet again in two weeks, both will find ways to benefit from Saturday night's match and use the clash in the build up to their qualifying final. For Geelong, the second quarter was their best with a five-goal run opening up a 31-point lead. Mitch Duncan, Josh Caddy and Cameron Guthrie will all take confidence out of their form in that run. For the Hawks, the response was emphatic and ruckman Jonathon Ceglar might be the player to benefit most from that ahead of September. With Ben McEvoy dropped, Ceglar is clearly seen as the Hawks' No.1 big man. He was terrific in the second half, finishing with 23 hit-outs and a crucial goal.       

 

North Melbourne forward Lindsay Thomas had become a repeat offender when he dived against Geelong three weeks ago, but who knew champion Cat Jimmy Bartel had it in him? Twelve minutes into the second quarter, Hawk Jordan Lewis was backing into his defensive 50 to take a mark with Bartel approaching the contest. Matt Suckling did the right thing and laid some body on Bartel to protect his teammate, who took the mark. Bartel, however, dived and emphasised the contact, flicking his head forward and convincing the umpire to pay a free kick. The Brownlow medallist converted his resulting set shot but was repeatedly reminded by the crowd how he earned it.

 

As Geelong gathered momentum in the second quarter, captain Joel Selwood was lined up by Hawthorn star Jarryd Roughead and crunched in a hard but clean tackle on the wing. As the pair grappled on the turf briefly, Selwood planted his elbow on Roughead's throat before getting to his feet. It wasn't as obvious as Brent Harvey's misconduct case that earned him a three-match ban last week, but it is sure to be scrutinised by the Match Review Panel on Monday. Selwood has no carryover points on his record.     

 

After a spell in the VFL mid-season, young midfielder Will Langford has cemented his place in the Hawthorn line-up and he won't be going anywhere. A capable run-with player, he did his damage across half forward on Saturday night. Midway through the third quarter he converted a set shot from 50m to maintain the Hawks' momentum, and after the three-quarter time siren he converted again, from 40m, to give his team the lead. His impact wasn't always so obvious. Midway through the final term he was tackled by Jared Rivers but held onto the footy and got back on his feet when the tackle slipped. He fed the ball out to Brad Sewell, who then found David Hale for the match-sealer.

 

The Geelong forward line is far from settled going into finals, and it took another twist on Saturday night when Shane Kersten suffered a left hamstring injury early in the first quarter. A tall option to support Tom Hawkins, he could be unavailable for the start of September. On Saturday night the Cats kicked just three goals in the second half, with Hawkins finishing with three. Steve Johnson will return to boost the Cats' goal-scoring power, but it is likely Chris Scott will be relying on his smaller brigade to do damage through September.