Luke Beveridge said during the week that the battle-worn Bulldogs' luck would eventually change.

But with Tom Liberatore and Jack Macrae injured in their loss to Geelong on Friday night, Doggies fans would be forgiven for growing impatient.

The Dogs showed enormous heart, but the Cats made the most of their height and experience, outclassing the visitors to win by 25 points at Simonds Stadium.

With Mitch Wallis (broken leg), Jack Redpath (knee) and Dale Morris (hamstring) already on their injury list, the Dogs revealed both Matt Suckling and Matthew Boyd were suffering from Achilles problems and would not play.

Jake Stringer and Luke Dahlhaus returned from injury, but Liberatore and Macrae could not see out the match.

Which was not to say that this was not a game worth watching.

If you were to take a friend to their first AFL match, you would be hoping it would look something like this one.

Both teams were good early on – Geelong noticeably bigger and stronger in the air, the Bulldogs quick and tough at ground level.

The Cats were good out of the centre in the first quarter, driven by the star partnership of Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield.

They scored five goals – through Tom Hawkins, Steven Motlop, Daniel Menzel and Rhys Stanley – from just eight inside 50s, while the Bulldogs needed 14 entries for their five goals to trail by a point at quarter-time.

The game looked like becoming a shoot-out, but the Doggies sought to shut it down after the break and it was not until seven minutes in that a speedy Stanley outpaced his opponent and scored the first goal of the second quarter. Liberatore was a picture of frustration as he limped off.

His left ankle folded beneath him as Motlop laid a tackle and Bulldogs staff crowded around him as he crossed the boundary line.

They strapped his ankle and applied an icepack and it was clear the injury-plagued 24-year-old would not play again that night. The momentum was with Geelong and they made the most of it, kicking three goals in quick succession.

But a toe-poke off the ground from Clay Smith gave the Dogs another before the major break, which they went into just one goal behind.

It was in the third term that the Cats were really able to pull ahead.

The Bulldogs had their chances – sometimes they were desperate, scrambling half-chances, but they were there. About 23 minutes in, the Dogs' Jake Stringer missed a frantic snap shot in front of goal.

Moments later Dangerfield, about 40 metres out, managed to pull the ball out of a contest and snap a goal at the other end, as if to say, "that's how it's done."

Macrae sat out the rest of the match out with an icepack strapped to his leg, meanwhile the Cats' tall forwards were particularly good. Stanley kicked his fourth for the night and the home team were 27 up at three-quarter-time.

The Dogs were brave, though, as they almost always are. Lin Jong kicked a much-needed goal to start the final term and they tirelessly tried to work the ball forward.

But they lacked the Cats' experience and polish, Jimmy Bartel successfully picked out Stanley in a contest in front of goal and he scored goal number five.

With just seconds left, Bartel goaled on the run in a fine finish to his 300th game. It was also a night to remember for Corey Enright in his club-record 326th game.