If Geelong players were affected by the club's concussion scandal, coach Chris Scott certainly didn't see it as the Cats beat Essendon by 67 points to stay in touch with the AFL top four.
News broke on Thursday the Cats had signed a secret deal with Jake Kolodjashnij in 2024, where the defender with a concussion history would effectively take legal responsibility for future brain trauma.
But if the furore affected Geelong's players it wasn't obvious at GMHBA Stadium as the Cats piled on the first 10 goals to claim a 17.15 (117) to 7.8 (50) win in front of 33,379 fans.
Geelong were on Friday issued with a 'please explain' notice regarding the waiver signed by Kolodjashnij that wasn't lodged with the AFL or the AFLPA at the time and which the Cats have now removed.
When asked if he thought the situation had impacted the players, Scott, who had praised a "strong performance", said: "I don't.
"Probably hard to gauge. It's hard to be definitive about these things, but I didn't detect anything."
Kolodjashnij, who has played 11 AFL games this season, wasn't in the team, having not been selected in recent weeks.
In the game, Ollie Dempsey was the firestarter when he burst through congestion and jagged the opening goal, and had another three before halftime.
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Ollie Henry kicked four goals, Shannon Neale kicked three and Bailey Smith had 38 disposals and eight clearances while Lawson Humphries and Tom Stewart were busy behind the ball.
Last-placed Essendon looked set for humiliation but corrected course just before halftime to make for a more respectable defeat.
One of former Essendon coach James Hird, ex-Bomber and Sydney assistant coach Mark McVeigh, Fremantle assistant Jaymie Graham or Murray Davis will win the Bombers' vacant fulltime coaching job.
Caretaker Dean Solomon isn't entering the process.
Zach Merrett (29 disposals, eight clearances) and first-year midfielder Dyson Sharp (27 disposals, eight clearances) fought hard while Vigo Visentini (33 hitouts, 17 disposals) controlled the ruck.
Geelong's scoring wasn't limited by the rain, with the Cats out by 28 at quarter time then hammering through six goals in the second term.
Gryan Miers, who has been playing with a partially torn right ACL, felt for that knee in the second quarter, but finished the game and Scott had no concerns later.
Late in the second quarter, Peter Wright teed up Jacob Farrow to deliver Essendon's first, before Archie Roberts added a long bomb after the siren.
It cut the halftime margin to 53 points.
"I didn't like the mentality in the last 10 minutes of the second quarter. I just didn't like the way our boys were carrying themselves, the demeanour," Solomon said.
"It needs to hurt when the opposition are scoring heavily against us and we can't accept it.
"Obviously, there's a method to that, but there's also a will and want to push back on the opposition and not accept it.
"... To the players' credit, they pushed back in the second half and looked a lot better ... but we can't be waiting until halftime."
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Essendon kicked four goals in the third term to draw within 34 points.
Geelong nudged the margin out again and moved to sixth, at least temporarily, and four points off fourth.
Essendon (2-19) next host second-placed Sydney while Geelong (13-8) play North Melbourne.
