Geelong couldn't be stopped, as the GIANTS discovered on Saturday afternoon at GMHBA Stadium.
Continuing to flirt with the top of the ladder, the Cats did bulk damage early - posting their third-highest half-time score in club history - before recording a 14.12 (96) to 5.3 (33) win.
It is a result that continues to pile pressure on an underperforming GIANTS outfit, with just one win from nine games this year.
Geelong was in its typical hard-running, high-scoring mood from the outset, landing the opening goal of the game within one minute thanks to some transition footy and an Aishling Moloney beauty.
Although the GIANTS worked exceptionally hard to defend and apply pressure in the clinches, they simply couldn't contain the breakaway power of players like Georgie Prespakis (40 disposals, 409 metres gained), Mikayla Bowen (29 disposals, one goal), and Moloney (25 disposals, four goals).
Prespakis was the standout, as her 40 touches set a new personal best, and her 12 score involvements included three behinds of her own – the only slight on an otherwise brilliant game.
In an attempt to stymie the Cats' heavy attack, the GIANTS looked toward their usual extra into defence, with Georgia Garnett starting most centre stoppages at the defensive corner of the centre square and sliding back behind the ball.
It was an early signal from the visitors that they weren't convinced they could defend well enough up the ground to keep equal numbers down back.
But even an extra couldn’t solve the problem that was Moloney, Jackie Parry, Chloe Scheer and Chantal Mason in the Cats' attacking line.
A late attacking surge from the GIANTS narrowed the margin, but it was too little, too late.
The GIANTS looked most dangerous when they got the ball moving at speed by hand, but there was a tendency to overuse the footy and draw Geelong's elite pressure and, ultimately, turn it over. And when they did find that release through the corridor, they would blaze away to space in the forward 50 for the Cats' defenders to clean up and rebound.
Tarni Evans was the shining light up forward for the GIANRS, with their first three of the game, and the only one in orange who looked even close to scoring or much of the afternoon.
For the last quarter Geelong ruck Piper Dunlop was rested as she manages some knee soreness following an injury earlier in the season. It meant Chantal Mason got busy in the ruck, using her power and booming boot to get the ball forward from the middle.
Evans or bust
Not for the first time, the GIANTS looked impotent up forward unless the ball was in Tarni Evans' hands. A bag of three in round one set the tone, she now has 10 for the season as her side's leading goalkicker. She was the only player in attack who genuinely challenged the Cats' defence when caught in the one-on-one, and because of that, kicked the GIANTS' first three goals of the game. Her accurate kick and individual strength was a highlight on an otherwise drab day.
Up next
The GIANTS will enjoy its home Pride Round fixture at Henson Park against Hawthorn on Saturday afternoon.
GEELONG 4.3 8.5 11.8 14.12 (96)
GIANTS 0.0 1.0 3.0 5.3 (33)
GOALS
Geelong: Parry 4, Moloney 4, Bowen, O'Rourke, McDonald, Scheer, Crockett-Grills, Morrison
GIANTS: Evans 3, Huntington, Beeson
Crowd: 2924 at GMHBA Stadium
