The club will be pumped by the win and the emotion should carry over into this Saturday's game against Richmond at Telstra Dome.
The Cats then face the Bulldogs the following week, a game they will be determined to win following their humiliating first-round loss.
Emotion is a powerful tool and the club will be sure to use it heading into the Richmond game. But it can be a double-edged sword and it will need to be careful to harness it without any overhype.
What we do know for certain after the Port win is that Geelong's time in the gym over summer was well spent. The players proved that they have the strong bodies now to match it with the league's toughest and even beat them in the physical contests.
Paul Chapman, Cameron Ling, Gary Ablett, Matthew Scarlett and Corey Enright gave as good as they got and their ability to absorb and then prosper fed the rest of the playing group.
Richmond coach Danny Frawley watched the game from the stands and he will have felt decidedly uncomfortable with what he saw.
Before Sunday's game he would have been looking to the Cats as a good chance to break a six-match losing run. On the Cats' Sunday form, he will be rethinking that.
But Richmond is an enigmatic side and so can be a difficult one to assess.
It has a list of players that can be very hard to beat. They proved that early in the year, winning six of their first eight games.
When you consider Matthew Richardson, Brad Ottens, Wayne Campbell and some good youngsters in Mark Coughlan and David Rodan, they have plenty of talent.
The inherent problem for Richmond lies in the fact that too many of these players play in isolation and not as a team.
Richardson in particular stands out. He is a prodigious talent and when on fire is virtually unstoppable. But when he's not, he lets everybody know about it, including his teammates, and like a cancer it can spread quickly.
Which is why it is imperative that Scarlett continue his giant-killing season.
That will leave Tom Harley to probably take Ottens who is strong in the air. Mark Thompson said he rated Harley the best mark at the club and encourages him to grab the ball, which should produce an enticing battle.
The job in defence will be made easier if the Cats' midfield can reproduce the form that stung Port.
Former Crow Kane Johnson and Coughlan are great ball winners and Campbell and Greg Tivendale are terrific outside finishers who are strong on goal and proven scorers on the run.
If the Cats can cut off the supply to Campbell and Tivendale it will force them in close, something with which neither is comfortable.
Jarad Rooke is expected to return for the Cats after the flu and will provide another defensive option, or may even get a running role on someone like Tivendale.
Ling will probably take Campbell, and Enright or Joel Corey could take Joel Bowden.
That still leaves a midfield rotation of Ablett, Chapman, David Spriggs, James Rahilly and even David Wojcinski, who was given midfield time last week and provided some excitement.
Suddenly, the Cats are looking good and have options.
Mark Thompson's promise all year that the side would play some good and exciting footy once the sting went out of the competition is ringing true.
