Luke Parker has stamped himself as one of the competition's elite midfielders after inspiring the Sydney Swans to a 43-point win over Geelong at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.
The Swans' reigning club champion kicked five goals and had 31 possessions in a standout best on ground performance.
Geelong led at half-time but a dominant second half from the Swans, in which they kicked 10 goals to two, saw the home side cruise to a 18.12 (120) to 11.11 (77) victory.
Parker was able supported by Josh Kennedy, Dan Hannebery and Tom Mitchell through the middle of the ground, while 250-gamer Jarrad McVeigh marshalled the Swans' defence with his usual class.
Youngster Jackson Thurlow tried hard for the Cats, as did Mathew Stokes and big man Mark Blicavs, but the visitors had too many second half passengers.
Both teams managed four goals apiece in the opening term but none of them came easy, as a combination of poor skills and opposition pressure made scoring difficult.
Swans midfielder Ben McGlynn enjoyed a running battle with Cats skipper Joel Selwood early in the match. The pair were involved in several incidents off the ball as McGlynn kept Selwood to just two possessions by quarter-time.
The Cats skipped to a 14-point lead with three of the first four goals of the second quarter, two of those resulting from 50-metre penalties.
Lance Franklin was again wasteful with 2.4 for the half, but Parker kicked two goals for the term and had three by half-time as Geelong clung to a nine-point advantage at the main break.
A major in the first 20 seconds to Kieren Jack was one of three in a row for the Swans to start the third quarter, but another costly miss by Franklin, plus another by Kennedy, kept the Cats within reach.
When Steve Johnson punished the Swans in time on with his second for the night, the visitors trailed by one straight kick with a quarter to play.
The last quarter was all Swans and on the back of a dominant midfield, Franklin finally found his kicking boots to finish with 4.5 for the game.
McVeigh also notched a goal in the final term and was chaired off the ground by his teammates on his special night.
SYDNEY SWANS 4.3 8.4 11.9 18.12 (120)
GEELONG 4.4 9.7 10.10 11.11 (77)
GOALS
Sydney Swans: Parker 5, Franklin 4, Mitchell 3, Tippett, Kennedy, Goodes, Jack, Rohan, McVeigh
Geelong: Motlop 2, Johnson 2, Gregson 2, Lang, Thurlow, Blicavs, Guthrie, Selwood
BEST
Sydney Swans: Parker, McGlynn, Franklin, McVeigh, Kennedy, Hannebery
Geelong: Biclavs, Guthrie, Enright, Gregson, Thurlow, Stokes
INJURIES
Sydney Swans: Nil
Geelong: Duncan (foot), Tom Hawkins (glute) replaced in the selected side by Josh Walker
SUBSTITUTES
Sydney Swans: Dean Towers replaced Jake Lloyd in the quarter
Geelong: Sam Blease replaced Mitch Duncan in the third quarter
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Nicholls, Hay, Jeffery
Official crowd: 28,063 at ANZ Stadium
