GEELONG coach Mark Thompson says he will persevere with Shane Mumford as his No. 1 ruckman and Tom Hawkins as his back-up while Brad Ottens remains on the sidelines with a knee injury.

Mumford and Hawkins took on Melbourne pair Mark Jamar and Stefan Martin at Skilled Stadium on Saturday – a match the Cats won by 46 points.

Although Geelong lost the hit-out count 25 to 49, Thompson said the Mumford-Hawkins experiment needed to be given time with Mark Blake, who had played the first 15 games of the season, dropped to the VFL because of form.

"The thinking behind it is that if we've only got one ruckman in form, what do we do? Are we prepared to play one ruckman like a lot of other clubs do to provide another midfield-type player on the bench?" Thompson posed after the game.

"It's not an exercise or experiment we do for one – we probably have to have a look at it – but we were pleased with what we saw today.

"The workload thing with Shane Mumford is part of the experiment too, so that if he does get to play 70 per cent, can he play effectively for 70 per cent in big games of footy? That's what we have to find out."

Thompson said Blake responded OK in the earlier game at the Cattery.

"He played a reasonable game. We didn't expect him to play a great game," he said.

"He's been under a lot of pressure – externally in the media, by our fans and that's sometimes pretty hard and it doesn't normally just go away.

"He's a work in progress and our plan is to actually get him back in the team and playing the right footy – that's a long-term plan."

On the win, Thompson said his side did what it had to do to get the four points.

"The early part of the game, we were absolutely thrilled with and we just seemed to coast home again and win by … probably enough," he said.

"It was windy conditions and we did enough to win the game and we set it up early.

"Individually, there were a lot of good players like Mathew Stokes, who [did] not [have] high possessions, but played exactly the way we wanted him to play, and Joel Corey … as did (Tom) Hawkins and (Harry) Taylor in the ruck."

Thompson was also pleased with the efforts of key forward Cameron Mooney.

"He's been in a good headspace for about a month now – not getting the results, but he keeps backing up," he said.

"There was one time there when I said: 'Next time you get a kick, mate, just make sure you take it'. He said: 'Yeah, I've got no problem with that and I'm going to take it'. That's a very good attitude."

Thompson said it was too early to tell whether the Cats were playing the type of football that could net them a second flag in three seasons.

"I don't think you can really judge a Geelong-Melbourne game as to how much improvement we need to play well in a grand final – we haven't even made a grand final and we haven't even made a preliminary final [yet]," he said.