The VFL Cats were unable to get the four points they needed to keep their finals hopes alive, falling to a strong Collingwood outfit by 74 points at Victoria Park on Saturday.
Jed Bews was strong down back for the Cats, blanketing lively Collingwood forward Ash Johnson for much of the afternoon, keeping him to just six disposals and goalless.
Sam Menegola enjoyed the tough, contested style of game as he picked up 25 disposals and eight clearances to go alongside a brilliant first quarter goal.
With 11 AFL Listed players taking the field, the Cats welcomed back exciting prospect Flynn Kroeger for just his second game in two years, following a long injury layoff.
The game was an arm-wrestle early, before Collingwood broke the deadlock with the opening goal 15 minutes into the first term.
Geelong responded sharply just moments later, when Sam Menegola launched home a long range set shot to get the Cats on the scoreboard.
Ted Clohesy kicked truly for his first goal late in the quarter, as the Cats trailed by 14 points at quarter time.
An exciting coast to coast passage of play landed with Osca Riccardi, who strolled into an open goal to reduce the margin early in the second term.
Unfortunately, it was all one way traffic from there as Collingwood extended their lead to 32 points at the main break.
Mitch Hardie was instrumental through the middle in the first half, amassing 18 disposals and five clearances in a dominant display from the midseason draftee.
Osca Riccardi continued to thrive in his new role further up the field, picking up 11 disposals in the opening half while Oisin Mullin showed dash off half back with 10 touches of his own.
Draft prospect, George Stevens slotted into the Cats engine room perfectly with 18 possessions in the first half, while Menegola was solid with four clearances to go with his goal.
The Cats started the second half perfectly, linking up by hand across half forward to find Jye Chalcraft who snapped truly to open the scoring after half time.
Brayden Ham dobbed a beauty from tight on the boundary line midway through the third quarter, before Mitch Knevitt added his first of the contest minutes later.
But similar to the second quarter, Collingwood had all the answers as they pushed the lead out to 56 points at the final change.
Osca Riccardi broke through 50 and slotted his second of the contest against the flow of play, before a nice contested mark from Kye Annand lead to his first major deep in the final quarter.
Mitch Knevitt worked into the game well with 24 disposals and a goal, while Sam Menegola and Mitch Hardie were strong through the middle all game.
Dan Capiron picked off numerous intercept possessions in his 19 disposal, 11 mark performance while young gun George Stevens battled hard to finish with 28 touches.
The VFL Cats will finish off their regular season against the GWS Giants next Saturday, with the game commencing just after 11am at GMHBA Stadium.
