After a solid first half effort by the Swans, the Cats pulled away after half-time piling on 12 goals to four in the second half in a 19.12 (126) to 9.5 (59) percentage boosting win for the reigning premiers.
Before the match, I had hopes that if the Cats were still upset at the Swans that this, along with the early-season form we had shown, could work against them.
For most of the first half I was able to hold on those hopes. Despite Geelong dominating almost every single match-up, statistic, crowd member and umpiring decision the Swans only trailed by 12 points at the main break. We all know what happened after half-time.
After Adam Goodes took a mark on the run and then goaled from the 50m line from our first foray into attack, the early signs looked great but when Travis Varco and Paul Chapman snapped quick replies the status quo was restored.
That was to be the only passage of glory from our dual Brownlow medalist as he spent the rest of the day dropping sitters, giving away free-kicks while trying to break tackles and missing team-mates with his passes ? both by hand and foot.
Midway through the first quarter saw the Swans rebound from a behind kick-in, running the ball from end-to-end resulting in a sensational goal to young-gun Jesse White. Jesse showed knowledge beyond his experience at Skilled Stadium by curling the ball around the main goal posts for arguably his best goal this year.
Another crumbing goal by Varco (who was on him anyway?) and one to the Cats new cult-hero James Podsiadly saw the home-team take a single-goal quarter time lead with both teams scoring accurately 4.0 (24) to 3.0 (18).
The second half started with the first behind of the match (to Podsiadly who was starting dominate) but moments later saw rugby-convert Kieran Jack produce a carbon-copy of the running 50m goal from the previous week against Brisbane. It split the middle of the big sticks to stick it up the Cats in one of few defensive lapses by the Cats on the day.
O?Keefe was taken high a few minutes later but while he was out of action, dazed and confused for the second week running, and with no free-kick paid Geelong took advantage of the ?extra man? by rushing forward and kicking a goal.
To add insult to injury the next Geelong advance into attack saw a free kick for a high tackle paid against the Swans and Paul Chapman went back and slotted another goal to the Cats.
In reply, Josh Kennedy weaved through some heavy peak-hour traffic and hand-balled to Jared McVeigh who did a little shuffle on his way to a superb goal from 30 metres out to keep the Swans in touch of the untouchables.
Another goal to Podsiadly just before the main break had the ABC radio commentators criticizing the Swans defense for letting him run around on to his left-foot suggesting perhaps the Swans did not do their home-work on him. Geelong lead by 14 points at half-time.
This is where the blow-by-blow account stops of this match. The Cats gained the ascendancy after half time and ran away with the match in commanding style. Their tackling intensity increased, as did their contested marks inside 50, along with their domination in the middle of the ground.
Geelong?s Mark Blake dictated the rucking contests in the middle and it seemed every time Mumford or the new and improved Pyke got first hand on the ball it was sharked by a Geelong player (mostly by Ablett).
Former Cat Shane Mumford laid a heavy-tackle on Gary Ablett causing uproar in the stands as their hero went down head-first in to the turf. To Mummy?s credit I believe him when he says he did not tackle Ablett with a downward motion but perhaps he could have been a tad wiser and choose someone other than a protected species to make a statement (Mumford has been rubbed out for 2 matches by the MRP).
Run-it-Ryce Shaw tried all day by continually running the ball out of defense but was frustrated late in the day when his team mates, battered and beaten, could not display the same enthusiasm.
I?d like to think that despite clearly making a statement against us in response to poaching Shane Mumford at the trade table last year, we are the ones that showed Mumford what a real footy club is like and that he will be a much better player for us that he ever would be as the number three ruckman at Geelong.
And to that effect, we showed enough in the first half to suggest that the Geelong dominance over Sydney will not last forever.
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