We might just have a new premiership favourite.

After making a big statement against Brisbane at the Gabba last week, the Cats snapped Sydney’s seven-game winning streak in emphatic fashion with a 27-point win at GMHBA Stadium.

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From early in the second quarter to midway through the third term, Geelong booted eight goals to Sydney’s one — the lone Swans major to Isaac Heeney on the stroke of half-time.

That included a one-sided second quarter where the Cats had 23 inside 50s to Sydney’s six, with the Cats failing to put their dominance on the scoreboard with 5.6.

However, the Swans didn’t relent as they made the most of their opportunities and showed their offensive flare, slotting five of the next six goals to finish the third term to keep the packed 35,869 crowd on edge.

But quickly the Cats eased the nerves of the home fans as Jeremy Cameron kicked his third goal and Patrick Dangerfield slotted a set-shot from right on the boundary inside the first five minutes of the last.

Brad Close of the Cats. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images

The final margin flattered the Swans, who were forced into errors by the Cats’ relentless pressure throughout the match and had 24 less inside 50s.

The Cats managed to even up the clearance battle despite a big mismatch on paper. In a coming of age performance, young ruck Mitch Edwards managed to keep the top ruck in the competition Brodie Grundy in check as the Cats had a shopping list of contributors.

Max Holmes amassed a game-high 35 disposals, Lawson Humphries played his best in Cats colours in the Indigenous guernsey he helped design, Bailey Smith fought through a tag magnificently, and Cameron roamed all over the ground and kicked three goals.

“It feels really good. Starting to string together some really good games, but at the end of the day you don’t want to peak too early,” Smith told Fox Footy post-game.

“It was just awesome listening to the crowd, we had 35,000 here today and couldn’t have done it without them.”

THE 3-2-1 …

3. ‘PART OF MY EVOLUTION’: SMITH’S CAREER-BEST BLITZ … AND BRILLIANT INTERVIEW

We saw the best of Bailey Smith the footballer in-game – and then the best of Bailey Smith the person post-game.

Swans coach Dean Cox sent trusted negator James Jordon to Smith with great effect in the first half, limiting him to eight touches to half-time.

But when the Swans opted to start Jordon off the ground in the third quarter, Smith made them pay with almighty third term.

The Cats ball magnet racked up 15 disposals – 11 of those handballs – in the first 21 minutes of the third quarter as Smith’s relentless running got on top. His 15th disposal a snap goal.

“He’s raised the level. He does the simple things well and occasionally does the unbelievable things. He is a machine,” Fox Footy’s Jordan Lewis said.

Smith finished with a whopping 18 disposals, seven score involvements and three clearances in the third quarter alone. It was the most disposals Smith has ever had in a single quarter of footy.

“It was hard. I had James Jordon running with me – we were the same year level at school, he’s a good man,” Smith said.

“It’s just part of my evolution as a player is learning to leverage a tag and see how we can better the team and displace what they want. I thought we did that in the third quarter.”

It capped the latest strong performance from Smith, who’s in the middle of a career purple patch.

Asked by Fox Footy’s Sarah Jones post-match what he put his career-best form down to, a philosophical Smith said: “I don’t know. The people around me. I’ve got a lot of people that ground me.

“I’m separating my identity from who I am and what I do and distinguishing Bailey the footballer and Bailey the person. I’m not putting too much weight into my performance and just taking it day by day. There’s so much more to life than this game, so when you put it into perspective there’s no pressure to play well, you just go out there and let it all out.

“It’s just a game at the end of the day, so if I play well or if I don’t, who cares? Bailey the person is different to the player.

“When you’re around such a great group of boys and the club is so good at giving us time off and separating your personal life from being at the club, so it doesn’t get monotonous. We just keep doing our thing, get to the beach everyday, coffee with Ollie Dempsey and the boys – it really grounds me.”

Smith’s maturity impressed Fox Footy commentator Dwayne Russell.

“There’s been no birds from Bailey Smith this year, he hasn’t rattled anyone’s cage. He’s just playing footy – and boy is he playing it well,” Russell said.

“It’s just been footy, footy and footy – he’s on every billboard around the county. He’s on more billboards than Sydney Sweeney.

“Bailey the footballer and Bailey the person have been exceptional this year, regardless of what you think of the past and how he’s been judged. He is just playing good footy.”

2. DEFENDERS IN UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY

Connor O’Sullivan – somehow – managed to slot his first goal of his AFL before his direct opponent Charlie Curnow kicked one in the match — a sign of just how impressive he was in his shutdown job.

When Geelong was on a tear in the third quarter, the young Cat snuck forward and managed to gather a loose ball, shrug a tackle and snap it through for his first AFL goal in game 37.

He had gotten close earlier in the season, and he celebrated the goal with gusto and was swamped by his teammates.

But his defensive effort against the dual Coleman medallist was the biggest highlight, keeping him to two goals and minimal impact outside the third term.

The Cats had kicked four consecutive behinds to start the second term before Lawson Humphries took matters into his own hands.

Humphries chopped off a risky kick from Tom McCartin into the middle and played on and roosted it on his right towards an open goal from inside the centre square.

The ball bounced twice in the Indigenous flag goalsquare for the proud Nyul Nyul, Oomiday, and Worrora man went through for a long-range goal.

Humphries celebrated by grabbing the jumper he helped design, Saltwater Stories’ along with his sister, Meeza.

By the end of the game he was getting applauded each time he got the footy at Kardinia Park.

1. HEENEY FIGHTS THROUGH MULLIN ATTENTION

On the other side of the ledger, Sydney’s stars were stymied — with the exception of Isaac Heeney — as Connor O’Sullivan nullified Charlie Curnow.

Heeney had the in-form tagger in the competition in Oisin Mullin hanging off him and he was the main Swan keeping them in the game when the Cats had complete control.

The blonde bombshell was the No.1 rated on the ground at halftime according to Champion Data with 14 disposals, nine contested possessions, six tackles, five clearances – four of those in the first quarter – and a goal on the stroke of halftime.

But Mullin did his best to run off the Swans star and impact.

“He is quick, and repeat efforts as well – that’s the thing that Mullin does,” Bulldogs games record-holder Brad Johnson said.

“He’ll challenge you and tag and play tight and do all the defensive-natured things to the opposition’s best player. But when he gets the opportunity, he goes and he goes hard forward.”