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Purring Cats beat Suns, seal AFL top spot

Ed JacksonAAP
Geelong have surged to their 12th straight win by thrashing the Suns by 60 points on the Gold Coast (Jason O'BRIEN/AAP PHOTOS)
Camera IconGeelong have surged to their 12th straight win by thrashing the Suns by 60 points on the Gold Coast (Jason O'BRIEN/AAP PHOTOS) Credit: AAP

Even halfway through Geelong's 60-point AFL win over Gold Coast, Suns coach Stuart Dew was willing to concede to Cats coach Chris Scott his team are looking ominously good.

The pair bumped into each other during the main break at Metricon Stadium on Saturday with the visitors holding a 51-point lead in a game they would go on to win 18.11 (119) to 9.5 (59) to effectively wrap up the minor premiership.

"There's a toilet out of the back of the coach's box and Chris Scott and I were actually next to each other having a chat about it," Dew said.

"I just said 'yeah, you guys are in pretty good shape' and he sort of just agreed which is fair enough given what was going on.

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"Not often that happens. We had a bit of a laugh about it but it's fair to say they're a well-oiled machine."

Geelong extended their lead at every change in a game watched by a favourite son of both clubs in Gary Ablett, after the dual Brownlow Medallist received a Suns' life membership before the game.

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Tyson Stengle booted three majors to take his tally past 40 for the year while Jeremy Cameron (59 goals) kicked 3.3 in the Coleman Medal race.

Cameron Guthrie was impressive for the Cats with 30 disposals and four clearances, while Patrick Dangerfield returned from a calf niggle with 24 touches, seven clearances and nine score involvements.

Rhys Stanley was subbed out in the third quarter with a suspected strain to his left adductor, an injury which Scott feels could rule out the 31-year-old from next weekend's match with West Coast at GMHBA Stadium, but shouldn't be a doubt for finals.

Having guided the Cats to a ninth top-four finish since taking over in 2011, Scott said he was embracing the prospect of another finals campaign despite missing out on a premiership since his first year at the helm.

"You've got two choices. You can fight that feeling and wish it wasn't happening, or you can live with it and embrace it because it's impossible to do great things in life without that anxiety being a fair bit of it," Scott said.

"For me it's a privilege, it's a privilege to feel that pressure.

"I've been in footy a long time and those years where you get to this stage of the year and you're not in contention, I don't want to be there.

"I'd rather risk the disappointment of not quite getting there every single year - and it's a shocking feeling when we don't quite get there - I'd take 100 of them to try and pull it off once."

Izak Rankine kicked two goals but finished the match having aggravated a left shoulder injury.

It puts him in doubt for next weekend's clash against North Melbourne, in what could be his last game for the Suns as the off-contract small forward weighs up an offer from Adelaide.

"We all know he's got a decision to make," Dew said.

"He's starting to show where he can get to but when guys get to the end of their contracts, they've got decisions to make and he's certainly been given a big incentive to look elsewhere."

The Suns also lost foundation player Sam Day to a suspected meniscus injury in the third quarter.

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