Even in their glory days of 2007, Geelong never put together a quarter of football quite like the one it did against Port Adelaide today. It was a 30-minute masterclass in skill execution that turned what was an even AFL contest into a Harlem Globetrotters exhibition.

The Power went into half-time at Skilled Stadium only 10 points adrift of the premiers, and must have given themselves some sneaky chance of causing an upset. Many, after all, were part of the last team to beat the Cats at home, even if that triumph came almost three years ago.

Half an hour later, as the Port players trudged over to hear Mark Williams' three-quarter time address, the margin - if they cared to look up at the scoreboard - was 77 points.

Geelong had piled on 11.7 - to Port's solitary goal - making it the Cats' best third quarter since the 1890s when the club was known as the Pivotonians and resided at Corio Oval. That century-and-a-bit of football covers maybe 2200 third quarters in total, and this one was the best of the lot.

That was the scale of their brilliance today. It was a performance for the ages, one that was mesmerising and exhilirating to watch - and brutal to be on the wrong end of.

The Cats' best players all featured large in the rout, especially Gary Ablett, Jimmy Bartel, Steve Johnson, Joel Corey and Paul Chapman. Two players who weren't around in '07, James Podsiadly and Mitch Duncan, also did their bit.

The pattern was simple: Ottens or Blake tapped to the midfielders who'd combine together to clear the congestion with a flurry of handballs and then suddenly one of them was hurtling towards half-forward with three or four forwards leading into open space. From there, it was just a matter of weighting the pass properly.

A staggering inside-50 count of 21-5 reflected their dominance at the centre bounce and around the stoppages.

After Ablett goalled at the two-minute mark, the scoreboard honour roll went like this: Chapman, Mooney, Bartel, Duncan, Hawkins, Podsiadly (x2), Ablett, Byrnes and then Johnson put an exclamation mark on the extravaganza with the 11th goal after 34:48 minutes. Then it was time for everyone, knowing they'd witnessed something very special, to take a deep breath.

The quarter took that long because the ball sailed through the sticks 18 times at the Barwon River end, and had to be retrieved from the joyous throng behind the goals.

Port are no mugs. They'd enjoyed a solid start to the season, beating North Melbourne and West Coast before having an honourable loss to Brisbane. Yet in the time it takes to queue for a pie and Coke and find the way back to your Skilled Stadium seat, they were reduced to the Washington Generals.

Expect the bookmakers - with the Bulldogs going down, Hawthorn well beaten and St Kilda without Nick Riewoldt for the foreseeable future - to reel the Cats in to firm premiership favouritism. And the talk that they'd lost their appetite for success to be consigned to the nearest rubbish bin.