Thompson: Cats can get better

Geelong coach Mark Thompson believes the aesthetics rather than the statistics of the Cats' 68-point victory over the Crows made it a successful Friday night out for his club.

The Cats recorded some big numbers during the AAMI Stadium clash with the reigning premiers amassing 460 possessions (which included 13 players with 20 touches or more) while their 18.16 was compiled by 10 goal scorers.

But Thompson said the figures were secondary to what style of game the players were able to produce.

"I don't really count possessions, someone told me we had 460 but it's almost irrelevant. It's not important to some football clubs, it's not important to Geelong," he said.

"We find that we try and measure other things that are important to us. Sometimes we had big possessions in big victories last year but the football was good and that's what you should just watch rather than just going to the stats."

"Is it good football to watch and I thought tonight's football was a pretty good game to watch."

Thompson also brushed aside the possible psychological advantage that comes from thrashing a top eight opponent.

"It's no more important beating your main rivals than it is any team really. We don't go to crush teams, we go to play the best football we are capable of playing," he said.

Thompson said he was pleased with several aspects of the game including Geelong's 30-1 first quarter.

"It's something we've been trying to work on just having better starts and winning first quarters. It just sets up the rest of the game doesn't it," he said.

"You always try and take the crowd out when you are playing interstate, tonight we did it particularly well."

"I'd imagine if we had a pretty good start that they would've been sitting back a bit more than they usually were."

He was also happy with the team's intensity and quick ball movement through the midfield.

But he added Geelong could still find room for improvement.

"Of course we can. We didn't play the perfect game and we haven't played it yet so we'll continue to seek perfection and strive to be a better time," he said.