AFL: Gary Ablett leads way for Geelong Cats in Gold Coast Suns thumping

Gary Ablett has kicked three goals in his return to the Gold Coast as Geelong thrashed the woeful Suns by 85 points.

Ablett, a four-time best and fairest and Brownlow winner at the Suns, scored once in the third quarter and twice in the last term, to go with 37 possessions in his side's 17.19 (121) to 4.12 (36) humbling.

His first was a kick from just inside 50m after a handball from Jed Bews from one of countless Suns turnovers.

The second was a trademark true kick from the right pocket, a similar kick in the same part of the field to a goal that helped the Suns to victory over Geelong last year.

His third was from a set-shot after he was tripped.

The Suns started well, scoring two of the first three goals in the first game of 2018 at the Metricon Stadium.

But the Cats kicked the next nine - including all eight in a scoreless second quarter for the home side - to put the game away.

In a horrendous second term, the Suns routinely gave the ball away at half-back and the Cats were allowed to waltz through the midfield with 62 more uncontested possessions.

The Suns' woes were compounded by losing Aaron Hall to pectoral ot bicep injury in the second quarter.

Aaron Young and skipper Steven May suffered ankle injuries in the third and fourth quarters respectively.

Tom Lynch, in his first action since week four after resting a knee injury, looked far from fully fit and bar an early goal had little impact on the contest.

Geelong's victory, their seventh of the season after uneven performances in recent weeks, will give them confidence ahead of tough upcoming games against North Melbourne and Richmond.

Coach Chris Scott hailed Ablett's performance as the best of his second tenure at the Cats.

"His class shone through tonight," Scott said.

"I thought he had a big impact on the game. It was the best game he's played for us.

"I thought he was pretty good inside the contest and he showed a bit to get away from the contest too.

"Hopefully we're building a midfield where the opposition finds it really hard to know who to put time into."

Stuart Dew was understandably fuming at the Gold Coast's performance in two of the four quarters.

"There wasn't enough care for teammates in the second quarter and [the players] had to hear that.

"We let (the fans) down.

"A solid team cant concede eight goals to one point in a quarter."