Gary Ablett, back in blue and white, with 39 disposals to his name.

Joel Selwood, in game 250, matching him kick for kick.

Yet remarkably for many Cats fans there was another storyline that was deemed important enough to dwell on and discuss.

It was the performances of three uncapped Cats, making their AFL debuts that threatened to steal the limelight from two storied Cats.

 First it was Esava Ratugolea. All 197cm and 102kg of him, bursting onto the AFL scene as he beat Demon Jake Lever out the back and kicked truly from a set shot to goal with his first kick in the league. 

Lachlan Fogarty came soon after – a man the Cats were surprised to find still on the board when their number came up on draft night.

The prolific junior weaved through traffic and slammed one on the boot to join the first-kick-first-goal club just minutes later.  

And weaving in and out of all of this was Tim Kelly, oozing class that belied his zero games of AFL experience. 

The mature-age WAFL recruit didn’t need long to hit the scoreboard either, making it three from three when he shrugged off a defender and snapped truly in the second.

The takeaway from Sunday’s win for many astute observers was that the Cats had already won without one of its stars, Patrick Dangerfield.

The Cats were supposed to be a three-man team that struggled without its leaders, yet a trio of young stars stood up and provided the depth Geelong has been crying out for in a classic game of football.

As far as starts go it was a promising one for the three new Cats, but football doesn’t stop and soon comes another test in an Easter Monday blockbuster. 

While this season may be won or lost of the boots of Dangerfield, Ablett and Selwood, as Sunday showed it’s the Cats’ supporting cast with a major role to play.