A RAMPANT Geelong has disposed of Essendon to the tune of 99 points at Telstra Dome on Sunday.
The ruthless display dispelled any hope around the rest of the competition that the Cats' will to win may have somehow been softened by their premiership success, with Geelong showing no mercy on their way to a 22.18 (150) to 6.15 (51) drubbing.
The Cats had the better of the first quarter, but identified themselves as a class above with a scary five-goal blast in the first 10 minutes of the second term.
There were few passengers on the day for Geelong, but 2007 Brownlow medalist Jimmy Bartel and Gary Ablett showed they might just make the race for this year's medal a two-horse affair with 38 and 34 possessions respectively and two goals each.
Ample support was provided by Cameron Ling (31 touches), Joel Corey (30 disposals) and James Kelly (28 possessions). The Cats finished with 14 separate goalkickers, led by young Ryan Gamble with three.
Matthew Scarlett renewed his duel with Bomber spearhead Matthew Lloyd and came out on top, with Lloyd unable to get on the score sheet.
Ricky Dyson was the leading possession winner for Essendon with 29, while Brent Stanton was prominent with 26 touches and a goal.
The Bombers gave their fans reason to hope in the first quarter as they displayed plenty of the run that saw them upset North Melbourne the week before. But with Scott Lucas' injury-enforced absence leaving a large hole in Essendon's forward line, the Dons struggled to move the ball past half-forward, allowing the Cats to rebound hard.
Steve Johnson opened the scoring with a nice roved goal, but impressive youngster Bachar Houli quickly replied in the fast-paced opening minutes. Ablett showed signs of things to come with his first, and he then set up ruckman Mark Blake, who lumbered inside 50 with all the grace of a Sherman tank, but still managed to split the middle.
Fellow ruckman Trent West followed suit in the shadows of quarter-time, and the Cats were up by 20 points when Josh Hunt's booming torpedo punt from 65m out missed left after the siren.
The pressure applied by the Bombers in the first quarter, when they out-tackled the Cats 13 to four, completely dissipated early in the second as Geelong reduced the Dons to spectators.
Johnson was instrumental in the onslaught, first with a handpass that set up Gamble's goal with just 12 seconds elapsed, and then with another pass to Corey for his first a minute later.
Ablett was never far from the action, and his neat look-away handball put Corey Enright clear to stretch the margin to 38 points three minutes in.
The shell-shocked Bombers simply had no answer as the Cats did as they pleased. Bartel provided yet another highlight when he elevated high over Courtenay Dempsey – who left the game with a hamstring injury before half-time – to mark and goal.
The match was effectively over when David Wojcinski brought the devastating blitz to an end, with his goal just inside the 10-minute mark making the margin 53 points.
To their credit, the Dons mustered something of a reply with goals to Stanton and Alwyn Davey, but they were still 51 points in arrears at half-time.
The match was reduced to a learning exercise for Matthew Knights' young team in the second half, with Geelong continuing to press home the advantage.
Ablett made sure there would be no Essendon resurgence with the first two goals of the third term while Cam Mooney, who had been well-held by Paddy Ryder, bobbed up with two of his own.
Mathew Stokes had impressed with his work around the forward zone and rewarded himself with his first goal, with the Bombers' only goal of the quarter coming from Adam McPhee soon after.
The Dons at least didn't raise the white flag in the final term with goals to David Hille and Jason Laycock, but it made little difference as the Cats put through five of their own, with Gamble adding two.
Geelong 4.4 11.9 17.13 22.18 (150)
Essendon 1.2 3.6 4.10 6.15 (51)
GOALS
Geelong: Gamble 3, Blake 2, Stokes 2, Bartel 2, Corey 2, Mooney 2, Ablett 2, Selwood, West, Wojcinski, Enright, Ling, Kelly, S Johnson
Essendon: Houli, Stanton, Davey, McPhee, Hille, Laycock
BEST
Geelong: Bartel, Ablett, Stokes, Kelly, Scarlett, Selwood, Corey, Ling, Milburn, Blake
Essendon: Ryder, Dyson, Fletcher, Stanton
INJURIES
Geelong: Nil
Essendon: Dempsey (hamstring)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Donlon, Kennedy, Chamberlain
Official crowd: 50,636 at Telstra Dome
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
