GEELONG spearhead Tom Hawkins doesn't believe Saturday night's fiery quarter-time melee against Port Adelaide was a turning point in the match.
Instead, Hawkins said the Cats simply executed better after the break, both in front of goal and when tackling.
Geelong trailed by 24 points at the quarter-time when a fiery brawl erupted involving most players on the ground.
The Cats re-emerged a different team and went on to record a strong 48-point win.
Hawkins said the Cats were playing OK in the opening term, only to let themselves down both with goal kicking and some undisciplined free kicks.
Geelong kicked 1.4 in the first quarter and trailed the free kick 11-6 early in the match.
Several of the frees they gave away were off the ball or unnecessary blocking attempts.
"We knew that Port Adelaide were going to come out pretty fired up and attack the game, and put pace on it,'' Hawkins said.
"We thought we withstood it pretty well (but) a few free kicks resulted in shots on goal. I'm not sure how many of those were goals …
"We had a clear mindset about how we wanted to play and we thought we did that in the first quarter but we didn't capitalise."
Patrick Dangerfield came under heat in a fiery opening to the match and was involved in several early incidents.
He copped an errant knee to the back in a marking contest on quarter-time from Tom Jonas, which led to the melee.
Hawkins said the focus on the Cats' star recruit came with territory of being a prolific inside player.
"Paddy is such a physical player," Hawkins said.
"He competes so well in the contest and opposition sides know that. I don't think they target him but they certainly go at the football hard (when opposed to Dangerfield)."
The Cats finished the match with a 60-28 hit-out advantage, which led to a commanding advantage around the stoppages, and Hawkins said the ruck combination of Zac Smith and Rhys Stanley continued to get better.
"Zac Smith's been jumping at the ball really well and Rhys is getting his confidence,'' Hawkins said.
"They're starting to combine well. We were really happy with how our midfield controlled the game."
