Geelong dominates West Coast in monster round 5 win
The premiership hangover may have cleared for Geelong as the Cats dominated West Coast on Sunday.
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There goes the rust.
An incredible four quarter burst spread over two matches has Geelong’s premiership defence back up and running but sterner tests await.
A 47-point dismantling of West Coast on Sunday was the second time in a fortnight Geelong was able to beat up a far inferior opponent to get the confidence rolling.
So quickly the game turned from a sluggish first 15 minutes for the Cats to pure domination.
So soon after conceding eight of the first nine inside-50s of the game, Zach Tuohy was twinkle-toeing his way to a banana goal, Jeremy Cameron was slotting floating mongrels through and the Cats turned into the Harlem Globetrotters.
The only real speed bump the Cats ran into after that opening few minutes was a nasty-looking left arm injury to livewire Tyson Stengle.
Stengle was subbed out at halftime for Brandan Parfitt with a left wrist injury and will face scans in coming days.
Elsewhere, Geelong was playing at an exceptional level.
Between halftime on Easter Monday against Hawthorn and the main break on Sunday, Geelong kicked 29.15 (189) to the opposition’s 4.10 (34).
That’s quite the statement.
No doubt, the quality of those opponents helped, as Hawthorn folded like a camp chair, while West Coast at least showed some fight in the second half.
But those dominant halves showed Geelong has a game and a level that few teams can match.
The Cats had 12 more contested possessions and 13 more clearances to lead the inside-50 count by 15 at the halfway mark against the Eagles.
And when the supply is as good as the quality upfront, few defences have any answers.
Tom Hawkins appears to be moving as normal now, as he slotted three early goals to power the Eagles forward.
His running mate Cameron had commentators doing the maths on whether he can kick 100 goals this year – Cameron is now averaging 4.4 goals per game, which puts him on track to kick 101 in the 23-game home-and-away season.
Questioned continuously after the first three weeks of this season, Patrick Dangerfield was at his very best against the Eagles early, while Esava Ratugolea dominated from the backline.
The Cats have always had everything they need to win the flag again this year.
Now they have the confidence back.
This Saturday night will be a good test of whether Geelong is truly back up and running when its hosts Sydney after hoisting its premiership flag.
That kicks off a month that features in-form sides Essendon and Adelaide before a blockbuster against Richmond.
Time to see how far they have come.
Originally published as Geelong dominates West Coast in monster round 5 win
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