Geelong’s premiership defence is finally gathering steam after crushing Essendon by 77 points in an ominous performance at Kardinia Park.

Meanwhile, GWS came from behind to defeat the Crows at Adelaide Oval, while Carlton halted the Power’s 13-match winning streak.

In Saturday’s earlier matches, ladder leaders Collingwood scored a convincing win over Fremantle, and Gold Coast stunned St Kilda only days after the sacking of coach Stuart Dew.

As they often do at Kardinia Park, the Cats ended the contest early after slamming through the opening seven goals of the match to lead by 46 points at quarter-time.

Shell-shocked Essendon was able to steady during the second term but it was already too late as the Cats inflicted further pain during the 18.14 (122) to 7.3 (45) triumph.

The result lifts Geelong up to fifth, the highest position they have sat in all season after dropping the opening three matches of their flag defence.

The sight of a rampaging Cats unit will strike fear into the rest of the AFL, after Cats coach Chris Scott during the week declared “they are the danger”.

The Cats could still pinch a top-four spot and a double finals chance as they sit just six points behind Melbourne.

It is no coincidence one of the Cats’ most powerful performances came in a match when star forward Jeremy Cameron, Norm Smith medallist Isaac Smith and premiership defender Jake Kolodjashni returned from injury.

Cameron, who missed the previous two matches through concussion, spent periods off the ground after being involved in multiple collisions.

The 30-year-old played out the match and waited until the dying stages to kick his first and only goal of the contest.

But fellow star Cats forward Tom Hawkins picked up the slack with five goals, four of them in the second half.

Geelong forward Gryan Miers, in his 100th match, booted the first goal of the match and delivered a memorable celebration after being at the centre of a meme comparing him to Argentine football legend Lionel Messi this week.

Crows vs Giants

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Blues end Power’s winning run

Carlton enjoyed its best win of the season, stopping dead Port Adelaide’s club-record winning streak with a 50-point belting at Docklands.

Jesse Motlop was an unlikely hero with four first-half goals and Charlie Curnow was outstanding, as the Blues led from the start for a convincing 18.14 (122) to 10.12 (72) win.

It is the Blues’ fourth-straight win to continue the resurgence that has put them back in finals contention, while the second-placed Power end their winning run at 13 matches.

The Blues won easily despite key forward Harry McKay leaving the match in the first quarter with a knee injury.

Only minutes before the opening bounce of the twilight encounter, Matthew Owies also dropped out of the Carlton side and Motlop took his place.

The small forward grabbed his opportunity with relish and thrilled the home crowd as the Blues took control.

Jack Silvagni also starred with four goals for the Blues, while Curnow was a shining light with a match-high 11 marks and three goals despite a strong performance from Power key defender Aliir Aliir.

The Power were vulnerable, given their seven omissions featured the likes of Jason Horne-Francis and Charlie Dixon.

But it is still a major scalp for the Blues and their slump — when they went 1-8 from rounds five to 13 — is now just a bad memory.

The Blues also kicked their second-highest score this season.

There was a lot to like about the Blues, who showed no obvious weaknesses and will probably end round 18 in ninth spot.

Despite continued strong form from Dan Houston and Connor Rozee, the Power never looked like pegging back Carlton’s hot start to the match.

While most of the key team statistics were even, Carlton dominated throughout.

Houston was prolific off half-back, racking up a match-high 41 possessions.

Silvagni kicked the first two goals of the match and Carlton had the first six scoring shots to put the early pressure on the Power.

A wasteful 3.6 for the opening term kept the match tighter than it should have been, before the Blues took control for good with six goals to two in the second quarter for a 31-point lead at the main break.

Magpies breeze past Dockers

Jamie Elliott continued his hot form in attack with four goals as the Collingwood juggernaut rolled on in a comfortable 46-point win over Fremantle.

The Magpies’ scintillating brand was on full show during a 10-goal second quarter, which laid the platform for the 18.5 (113) to 10.7 (67) triumph at the MCG.

The result kept Collingwood (15-2 win-loss record) on top of the ladder and has all but ended Fremantle’s (7-10) faint finals hopes.

Adding to the Dockers’ woes, they lost ruckman Sean Darcy (ankle) and young defender Brandon Walker (knee) to injuries during the third quarter.

Taylor Adams (23 disposals, seven clearances, two goals) and Darcy Moore (19 disposals, 11 intercepts) were Collingwood’s most influential players when the match was up for grabs early, but the premiership favourites had a raft of contributors.

Brownlow Medal fancy Nick Daicos (36 disposals, seven clearances, one goal) was busy, while Jordan De Goey celebrated his 150th match in style with 26 touches.

Ash Johnson (three), Dan McStay and Adams (two each) joined Elliott as multiple goal kickers as the Magpies racked up a triple-figure score for the seventh time this season.

Moore had five intercept marks in the first quarter alone.

The Magpies kicked eight consecutive goals in less than 23 minutes to break the match wide open and piled on 10.1 to 2.1 for the second quarter, leaving the visitors shell-shocked.

Such was the Magpies’ dominance, they were able to rest veteran midfielder Scott Pendlebury by substituting him out for Tom Mitchell early in the third quarter.

Dockers star Darcy hobbled off during the third term and play was held up for several minutes after Walker landed awkwardly in a marking contest.

The 20-year-old looked in extreme pain before being taken off the field on a stretcher.

Collingwood was commanding 47-point leaders at that stage and the break in play took even more sting out of the contest.

Suns stun toothless Saints

Gold Coast spread the load in a strong response to the mid-week sacking of Dew to beat St Kilda by 26 points in Carrara.

Dew was axed during his sixth season in charge on Tuesday, with club bosses describing a gap between expectation and reality that they believed had widened.

The playing group responded with a pressure-filled, even performance to shut down the Saints, who hung around but never truly threatened after the hosts jumped to a 19-0 lead.

The 11.11 (77) to 8.3 (51) victory moved the Suns to an 8-9 win-loss for the season.

Despite horror losses to top two sides Collingwood and Port Adelaide in the past fortnight, the Suns are still within reach of a maiden finals appearance.

With six rounds to play they need just two more wins to equal last season’s career-best campaign and potentially enter the top eight, although they will likely need three more than that to consolidate a finals spot.

Jack Lukosius kicked four goals, while Rory Atkins (32 disposals, two goals) had his best match at the club in the injured Lachie Weller’s absence and Sam Flanders (33 disposals, five clearances) continued his strong patch of form.

Bailey Humphrey, Ben Long, Brandon Ellis, Wil Powell all made a difference and ensured the work was not left to the core of Matt Rowell, Noah Anderson and fit-again Touk Miller.

The Saints fell to a 9-8 win-loss record as they cling to a spot in the top eight, although Cooper Sharman was a standout with three of his side’s goals.

St Kilda scored just one point in the first quarter and twice kicked set-shots out on the full.

Brad Hill did his best to spark something on the road with some brave, powerful running.

But too often their raids were broken down and the Suns were hungrier when the ball was up for grabs.

Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Brad Crouch both had 28 disposals, while Jack Steele made eight tackles.

AAP/ABC

Source: AFL NEWS ABC