"I love running onto the ball, but my leg wasn't giving me anything," the 19-year-old said. "I was just hobbling along trying to give something."

That he was able to do just that was crucial to Geelong seeing off a third-quarter surge from the Eagles and completing a win full of heart and soul, in which Lincoln McCarthy was absent for more than three quarters and Cockatoo played hurt and stepped up when it mattered.

Inspired by Nic Naitanui, the Eagles kicked five goals in seven minutes to slash a 51-point deficit to 19 and pump life into a contest that had hitherto failed to live up to its promise. Josh Caddy scrubbed one in time-on, but Cockatoo's snap in the opening minute of the last - capped by the celebration of a man feeling no pain - righted the Cats and once again had them purring.

"I just had to really step up," he said. "That goal was really important for us, just to get the boys up. That was a team effort as well - got the ball to the ground, and I was lucky enough to get the goal."

The collegiate observation was well made. Chris Scott has already started to bristle at how much critical attention is afforded Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield, and while the captain was again mighty and the recruit merely very good, this was a win that proved there are more than two names worthy of mention in the conversation about Geelong's merit.

Steven Motlop played a stunning game from go to whoa, capped by four goals and 25 possessions. Jimmy Bartel was ageless, Lachie Henderson a calm pillar in the dangerous territory of West Coast's forward line, and there was plenty to like from Josh Caddy, Mitch Duncan and Cam Guthrie to support the theory of depth.

Shane Kersten followed his four against Gold Coast with another three and a career-best nine marks, his chase down of Will Schofield in the dying seconds a betrayal of belief and confidence. Darcy Lang was good again, Harry Taylor was barely needed. Oh, and Selwood had it 35 times and Dangerfield 25.

The opening minutes laid bare that a difficult game was going to be trickier still as a stiff breeze lured the play into the Barwon Heads pocket as if under hypnosis. Eight minutes passed without a score; a dour struggled loomed.

Beauty came in unpicking a path through the maelstrom, first with a chain of crisp possession from a kick-out that finished with Shane Kersten, then an exchange by hand in a veritable phone box that gave Guthrie just enough room to strike.

Any inkling of a cruisy afternoon was dispelled in the whip-crack of three Eagles goals, and the sight of Cockatoo following McCarthy - whose ankle injury Scott said was not as serious as it seemed - to the rooms at a disconcerting hobble.

Rhys Stanley was toiling gamely against Naitanui but had a grim moment at the start of the second term when Tom Lonergan missed him with an in-board pass, Brad Sheppard marked and Stanley collected the Eagle high and late. He was reported, but shook it off immediately, drifted forward and regained the lead for the Cats, then stretched it by dishing to Motlop after trapping another inside 50 from the prolific Selwood.

Reward for risk emboldened the locals as Stanley marked a long, direct kick-in, turned on a dime and roosted it into Guthrie's path with a quarter-back's precision. Motlop finished the surge, and after a Tom Ruggles turnover gifted the Eagles a much-needed goal he had a third for the quarter after Dangerfield was felled by Jack Redden after he kicked.

Redden found himself further in the red to his team minutes later when he was caught giving Selwood a clip at a stoppage and Tom Hawkins got on the end of the resultant free kick to stretch the lead towards five goals. Dan Menzel's long goal in the shadows of half-time was a joyous exclamation point.

A patched-up Cockatoo returned but his obvious struggles and McCarthy's loss gave the Eagles hope of reeling in an ailing opponent. Kersten's second after a Dangerfield smother at half-back and a sweet Guthrie snap seemingly snuffed that. 

Just as it seemed the wounded Cats could smell blood in the water the Eagles turned the game on its head, slamming on five goals in seven minutes as Naitanui exerted his huge presence. Josh Kennedy kicked a couple, Scott Lycett and Jack Darling a second each and Josh Hill screwed one home. Selwood had gone quiet, blue and gold jumpers were everywhere.

Caddy got the goal Geelong desperately needed - virtually while sitting down - and the breathing space Cockatoo's snap brought was soon extended by Motlop's fourth, a raking finish from Andrew Mackie after Motlop's ingenious handball, and a couple to ice the cake from Hawkins.