A rampant Geelong side defeated the Northern Blues by 71 points at Preston City Oval on Sunday afternoon, breaking the Blues’ run of three straight victories.

The Cats were dominant from the outset, leading the match from start to finish with the Blues having no answers against a more mature, big bodied outfit, again finding themselves out of the top eight.

Geelong’s victory was spearheaded by the likes of captain Dom Gleeson (27 disposals) and their entire midfield, who beat their Blues opponents to the ball all day.

The game marked the return from injury for Carlton’s Tom Bell, who got through the afternoon unscathed, finishing with 23 disposals.

After last week’s spirited win against Bendigo, Northern couldn’t deal with Geelong in the early going, who burst out of the blocks with six goals to one in the opening term.

In particular, the pace of the Cats leading back to goal troubled the Blues, who conceded four majors in the first term alone from Geelong rebound 50s.

The second quarter proved to be much of the same in terms of dominance, with the Blues only mustering one behind as the Cats piled on another four goals to take a 57 point lead into half-time.

A renewed sense of vigour after being challenged by coach Luke Webster at half time saw the Blues outplay the Cats in the third term, albeit conceding two goals to one for the term.

The Blues’ only goal for the term came through Nick Graham, who again racked up 29 disposals but didn’t have his customary influence.

The last term saw a similar scoreline to the preceding quarter, ultimately seeing the Cats emerge as 71 point victors.

The heavy rainfall which arrived at Preston in fits and spurts seemed to match Geelong’s game style to a tee, who dominated in every facet of the game attributable to wet weather football.

The Cats smashed the Blues in total disposals (322-253), contested possessions (162-135), hard ball gets (81-70) and inside 50s (52-36).

The forward line for the Blues including Jarrad Waite and Jeff Garlett looked dangerous on paper, however the conditions didn’t play into the forwards’ hands: the two were very quiet, finishing with 7 disposals and no score between them.

Waite didn’t appear after three quarter time with what appeared to be a knock to the hip, although coach Luke Webster said it was more of a precaution given the scoreboard.

Despite the scoreline, it was the effort from the back six which was most heartening for the Blues, with the likes of Nick Holman, Andrew McInnes, Ciaran Sheehan and Matthew Watson stepping up, particularly after half time.

Ciaran Byrne was also moved down back in the second half and provided impressive run and carry when the Blues were bereft of it.

Along with the efforts of Gleeson, Mitch Brown put in an impressive performance at full-back for the Cats, while the likes of Daniel Gibbs and Jackson Hollmer were lively up forward.

However, Jordan Schroder was curtailed to good effect by the Blues, who restricted last year’s joint J.J Liston Trophy winner to 12 disposals.

Speaking post-match, Webster lamented the early effort from his team, while also paying credit to a dominant Geelong outfit.

“It was a disappointing start. We didn’t play the conditions well and we allowed a very good contested ball side to dictate terms,” Webster said.

“The boys in the second half had better intensity but in the end, you can’t give a side with the class of Geelong that kind of head start.”

Webster said that despite the experience difference between the two sides, the effort from some Blues wasn’t up to scratch, and the team was made to pay.

“We do have some young guys running around but we have some older guys who should show some more experience and leadership than what they did.”

Webster cited the return of Bell as a positive, as well as the effort from Byrne down back.

“Byrne did some good things down back: given how the game was going we thought we’d give him a look down back and he defended well and took the game on. He’ll get better every time he plays down there.”

The Northern Blues will have a chance to rectify the loss next Sunday, taking on Collingwood at Preston City Oval at 2.15pm. 

NORTHERN BLUES                 1.4       1.5       2.6            3.7 (25)
GEELONG CATS                       6.4       10.8     12.9      14.12 (96)

GOALS
NORTHERN: Wilson 2, Graham
GEELONG: Bourke 3, Gibbs 3, McCarthy 2, Toohey 2, Hollmer 2, Walker, Paliouras

BEST
NORTHERN: Holman, Bell, McInnes, Graham, Sheehan, Byrne
GEELONG: Hartman, Brown, Stringer, Smedts, Thurlow, D. Gleeson