It would not have been lost on Cats of a nervous disposition that "managing" three good players (Hamish McIntosh, Allen Christensen and Steven Motlop) against a team that would have snatched this same fixture exactly a year ago if Ryan Lester's dying-seconds snap had been true was tempting fate somewhat.

Lose on Saturday night and Geelong would be off to Sydney in week one of the finals. Adding to the sense of deja vu, Lester got a late call-up (along with Mitch Golby) when Tom Rockliff and Dayne Zorko withdrew before the bounce.

Their dark thoughts lingered for just over a half, but the Cats duly clicked into gear and tuned up for a less geographically challenging start to September, the comfort of which is rattled somewhat by the knowledge that it will be against their famous foe, Hawthorn.

Geelong wanted more out of the night than just a win and, in the search for a forward line foil for Tom Hawkins, would have been pleased with the second halves of Mitch Brown and Josh Walker. Their urgency in the contest increased as the clock ticked, but how the Cats structure their front half remains an unknown.

Thankfully the key piece of the front-half puzzle is in fine working order, with Hawkins kicking a career-high seven goals to round out a fine home-and-away campaign in which his rude health and smooth movement highlight how sore and sorry he was this time last year. Yet even the biggest blue and white optimists would admit it's too much to expect he'll do it on his own in September.

The last game of a long season can provide a happy ending to take into the holidays, but for a young, tired team it is often a bridge too far. Inside two minutes a full-blooded Pearce Hanley kick smashed straight into teammate Darcy Gardiner's face, sending him wobbling to the sidelines.

Gardiner was concussed and subbed out, a miserable homecoming for the St Joseph's old boy, and the suspicion that the Lions might soon feel similarly unsteady against a powerful foe fine-tuning for bigger battles was strong. With Hanley playing Pied Piper and Lewis Taylor and Zach O'Brien humming along with him, the Lions were hard to shake off, going goal for goal with the locals through a free-wheeling second quarter.

Hawkins had a bulk advantage over his young opponent Justin Clarke that was bordering on schoolyard bullying, and brushed him aside to kick two in the first quarter after Corey Enright had opened the scoring in a fitting start to proceedings by the veteran defender, who was omnipresent from go to whoa. Lincoln McCarthy buzzed around at Hawkins' feet and applied the defensive pressure and attacking threat his coach so likes. All he needs now is a first AFL goal.

Rockliff was a big out for the Lions, having averaged 39.5 possessions in his past eight games and topped 40 in the last three. His absence was felt most acutely at the stoppages, where Leuenberger's dominance of the hitouts was countered by a comfortable clearance win from the Cats in possibly their best stoppage game of the season.

Even after a snatch of Jimmy Bartel brilliance, smothering then giving Hawkins his fourth with what was literally a soccer assist, finally stretched the margin beyond four goals just before half-time, the Lions snapped back when Josh Green featured in two goals within five minutes of the restart, kicking the first and gifting Claye Beams the second.

The difference was back to 14 points when Walker drifted in to take his first mark of the night and kick truly from 40 metres. It sparked a run of four unanswered goals that broke the Lions' resistance and switched the home fans' focus from simply getting the win to getting the pieces of the finals puzzle to come together.

In the games of Joel Selwood, Bartel and Enright there was a classy familiarity, yet there were oddities about what ended up being a fairly mundane affair. Cam Guthrie had just four kicks, and Harry Taylor didn't take a single mark.

Geelong will trust they will do more next week, and keep its fingers crossed someone will do more to lighten the load on Hawkins.