BRUISED and battered in a rare loss last week, premier Geelong was a team on a mission last night, smashing Carlton in an awesome display of power football that proved it is still the most potent force in the competition.

The Blues dared to make a contest of the match for the first half, trailing by only 13 points at the major break after an entertaining opening hour of football, but paid heavily in the second half for their efforts. A dazzling third quarter when the Cats kicked six unanswered goals — and it probably should have been more except for wayward kicking — blew open the contest. To underline its control over the match at that point, Geelong had 23 inside-50s to Carlton's six.

The 56-point victory had all the hallmarks of a typical, clinical Geelong victory. Hit hard by a ferocious-tackling Collingwood last week, Geelong lifted its own intensity last night. The Cats put pressure on the Blues all over the ground, hitting their young opponents with vigour through 81 tackles compared with Carlton's 46. Much was made of the Magpies' 85 tackles against the premier last week, but the Cats showed again that they also possess such steel.

Geelong showed its hand early. It was going to run all night and it was going to squeeze every ounce out of the match. The Cats are an efficient team. Despite their dominance, they still had fewer overall possessions (368 to 395) than the Blues, but they moved the ball through the midfield with ease. They peeled off their opponents with confidence, knowing their strength when the contest was hot. And they flooded into their forward line to give their forwards plenty of back-up and put added pressure on the Carlton defence, which eventually wilted under the weight of opportunity.

The Cats opened the match with a goal to Mathew Stokes — one of a trio of small forwards who haunted Carlton all night — and it was sign of things to come for the rest of the night. Gary Ablett was instrumental in setting up Stokes for the first goal and the duo was influential all night.

Stokes ended the night with four goals, Steve Johnson finished with five and Shannon Byrnes kicked three.

For the first half, Carlton matched the Cats level of intensity. Led by their superstar captain Chris Judd, the Blues were breaking even in the middle of the groun