The Cats booted away early and were never headed, slowly grinding further away from the visitors to win 18.13 (121) to 10.7 (67).
The match loomed as a one-sided affair with the Demons, who had returned from Darwin after a taxing win a week earlier, having to confront the in-form ladder leaders.
Geelong asserted its superiority in the opening minutes, dominating the opening exchanges before cruising to a comfortable victory.
It wasn’t a totally convincing performance from Mark Thompson’s side, and the match never rose to great heights, with the reigning premiers simply doing enough to secure the four points.
Gary Ablett was his usual prolific self, collecting 32 disposals and booting two goals, however it was crowd favourite James Podsiadly who really livened up Skilled Stadium.
It was the fourth time the man known as “J-Pod” stepped out on his home ground and he maintained his perfect record by snaffling another bag of five goals, with marking and agility at ground level again a feature.
Joel Selwood (35 touches) and Paul Chapman (35) were also prominent, while Travis Varcoe’s defensive pressure was a feature for the Cats.
Melbourne, which decided to rest gun youngsters Tom Scully and Jack Trengove, unveiled another young gem in Jordan Gysberts.
He had 26 disposals to head his team’s ballwinners, ahead of Brent Moloney (25) and Aaron Davey (24).
But Brad Green (three goals) was the only Melbourne player who really looked capable of winning the game for the visitors.
In fact perhaps the only scare for the Cats came in the third term when Melbourne - with Green lurking in attack - booted consecutive goals to close to within 31 points.
But Geelong, like all good teams, responded.
Tom Hawkins, another outstanding contributor for Geelong with four goals, kicked one and then Mathew Stokes slammed through another and it was 44 points at the last break.
That took the wind out of the Demons’ sails, who were unable to match the Cats’ bigger bodies and, unless they caught their opposition on the counter attack, struggled against Geelong’s well-drilled defence.
To its credit, Melbourne continued to fight the match out and didn’t let the Cats grind them into the turf as they have with so many other teams that have come before them, although the final margin was still significant.
Thompson said his team was pleased to take the points despite not playing to its full potential.
“[We had] 31 shots at goal, you know we’d be more than happy with that every week,” Thompson said after the game.
“There was a lot of positives in the game. At the same time it wasn’t our best game of footy, it wasn’t our most ruthless game of footy, it wasn’t our most physical game of footy.
“We’re happy with the outcome and happy with a fair bit, but there’s still a lot of improvement and still a lot of things we didn’t do well.”
Geelong was red-hot early, setting up its win with a dominant opening 10 minutes of the game.
Melbourne struggled to get its hand on the ball as the Cats booted 3.1 to 0.0 before Jamie Bennell’s good work got his team rolling.
But on the back of Ablett’s 13 possessions, the Cats led by 22 at the first change and they stretched that to 32 at the main break.
“The intensity was high early and they were very good at it,” Melbourne coach Dean Bailey said after the match.
“They forced mistakes and the opportunities they took, they took quickly and effectively.
“Their first 10 minutes were certainly more intense than ours were.”
Geelong will try to maintain its winning run when it travels to Subiaco next week to take on West Coast, while Melbourne faces Carlton in a huge clash at the MCG.
Geelong 5.5 9.6 14.8 18.13 (121)
Melbourne 2.1 4.4 7.6 10.7 (67)
GOALS
Geelong: Podsiadly 5, Hawkins 4, Stokes 3, Johnson 2, Ablett 2, Chapman, Selwood
Melbourne: Green 3, Davey 2, Bennell, Jetta, Miller, Morton, Wonaeamirri
BEST
Geelong: Ablett, Podsiadly, Selwood, Enright, Stokes, Chapman, Varcoe, Hawkins
Melbourne: Gysberts, Green, Moloney, Frawley, Davey
INJURIES
Geelong: Nil
Melbourne: Garland (knee)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Farmer, McLaren, Jennings
Official crowd: 24,525 at Skilled Stadium
The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.
