A WASTEFUL but brilliant Geelong made Patrick Dangerfield’s return to Adelaide Oval a winning one, and further enhanced its growing credentials against Adelaide on Friday night.

The Cats needed 16 more scoring shots to run out 26 point winners, 13.20 (98) to 11.6 (72), and left the door ajar for far longer than it should have been.

But no one could criticise their mixture of hard inside football and exciting outside run, and they eventually fought off a Crows side which again refused to go away.

Cameron Guthrie and Zac Smith led an inspired Geelong midfield which cut holes in the Crows for much of the night, even without a dominant performance from man-of-the-moment Dangerfield, who still amassed 33 disposals and 11 tackles.

WATCH: Dangerfield's Crow 'homecoming'

Smith gave the Cats the advantage in the air while Guthrie's ability to release teammates with his grunt was a highlight. 

It meant the brilliant Steven Motlop (four goals) and his fellow forwards were on the end of plenty of fast entries. They always looked dangerous, albeit often wasteful.

The Cats led by just 12 points despite having 12 more scoring shots to half-time, and within two minutes of the resumption the Crows had levelled the scores through Rory Atkins and Eddie Betts.

At that point Cats coach Chris Scott could have been forgiven for pulling his hair out with frustration, but his irrepressible side wasn’t about to be denied.

Geelong again surged with three unanswered goals, but the Crows came again.

Adelaide finally gained some momentum in general play during the third term and into the final quarter, and suddenly looked capable of pinching victory. Rory Sloane inspired them around the stoppages and Adelaide rode the atmosphere created by a huge home crowd of 53,141.

Ironically, it was an Adelaide miss that would turn momentum back the Cats way.

Five talking points: Adelaide v Geelong

Paul Seedsman had a kick from 15m out directly in front to give the Crows the lead for the first time, nine minutes into the final term, but his kick slid to the left of the post.

The Cats went straight down the other end and Corey Enright kicked a brilliant 50m running goal.

Motlop then produced some trademark brilliance to kick his fourth, as the Cats kicked clear.

Cats coach Chris Scott described his side’s effort as "pretty solid" and was pleased they stayed on the job despite frittering away early chances.

"We worked really hard to get our chances and defended really strongly, the inside-50s reflected that," Scott said.

"We kept missing and they kicked some pretty good ones, especially early.

"That (poor goalkicking) can really hurt you in the modern game where momentum shifts can be quite significant. We were a bit concerned but overall our game was pretty solid."

Crows coach Don Pyke was left to rue a second straight defeat and said turnovers in dangerous parts of the ground cost his side.

"Clearly tonight we turned the ball over too many times in bad areas which cost us," he said.

"That hasn't been the trend for us - we've been pretty efficient with our ball use. So whether that's the pressure of the game or just an off game, I'll have a look at the tape.

"They were in control of the game, won the first half and kicking for goal on their behalf kept us in the game ... at the end of the day [the scoreboard] flattered us."

With so much pre-match focus on Dangerfield, the opening moments of the clash were almost anti-climatic. 

The Crows midfielders barely made eye contact with their former teammate, and it was Dangerfield's cohorts who did the early damage. 

To put Geelong's early dominance into perspective, it took the Crows until almost nine minutes into the term to have a possession in their half of the ground. To that point, the Cats had 32 disposals forward of centre. 

The Cats' inability to take advantage of their early dominance was compounded by the loss of key defender Tom Lonergan, who failed a concussion test after a head clash in an opening quarter.

The trend continued in the second term, as Geelong continued to kick behinds.

But their ability to break from stoppages caused the Crows problems, and Shane Kersten and Motlop both kicked goals on the break late in the second term.

The Cats' back six was superb, with Harry Taylor playing a strong game and Lachie Henderson doing a good job on Taylor Walker. Andrew Mackie got the better of the dangerous Tom Lynch. 

Ball use coming off half-back was an issue for Adelaide, which will be hoping Rory Laird shakes off a toe injury sooner rather than later.

Don Pyke's men again looked dangerous when the ball went forward but, as was the case last week, they didn't create enough chances.

MEDICAL ROOM 
Cats defender Tom Lonergan failed a concussion test after an opening quarter head clash and took no further part in the game. He will need to pass an additional test during the week if he is to face Collingwood next Saturday. 

NEXT UP
The Cats have a chance to further entrench themselves in the top four when they play struggling Collingwood at the MCG. Adelaide's nightmare early draw is over and it heads to Metricon Stadium for a very winnable clash with the Suns.

GEELONG        3.8       5.13     9.17     13.20   (98)
ADELAIDE       2.1       5.1       11.3     11.6     (72) 

GOALS
Geelong: Motlop 4, Kersten 3, Caddy, Duncan, Enright, Lang, Menzel, Stanley
Adelaide: Betts 2, Jenkins 2, McGovern 2, Walker 2, Atkins, Cameron, Sloane

BEST
Geelong: Guthrie, Motlop, Dangerfield, Bartel, Selwood, L. Henderson.
Adelaide: Sloane, Cameron, Lynch, R. Henderson

INJURIES
Geelong: Tom Lonergan (concussion)
Adelaide: Nil 

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Stevic, Kamolins, Meredith

Official crowd: 53,141 at Adelaide Oval