In the space of 10 third-quarter minutes, Tom Hawkins took the game away from Adelaide on Friday night, before milestone man Tom Stewart iced a 19-point win for Geelong with a defensive masterclass.

With the Crows having run down an early 25-point deficit to hit the lead during the third term, Hawkins piled on three of the Cats' next four goals to give his team breathing space.

They held off a strong fourth-quarter challenge from Adelaide to win 14.12 (96) to 11.11 (77) and make it two from two in 2024.

While Hawkins changed the game in the blink of an eye, it was Stewart in his 150th that owned Adelaide Oval, the perfect architect as the Cats controlled play for much of the night.

Despite the attention of Luke Pedlar early on, the five-time All-Australian took three early intercept marks to set the tone – and he didn't slow down.

Stewart finished with an equal AFL record 10 intercept marks from his 28 disposals to completely control Geelong's back half.  

Adelaide fought hard until the end, squandering some late chances to make it genuinely close, but like last week against Gold Coast, it was too little, too late.  

The Crows wrestled back momentum in the second quarter, but after two early goals to reduce the margin to eight points, just couldn't make further inroads.

They generated 24 inside 50s to 11 for the term, but squandered chances with poor entries and poor finishing, none more so than Chris Burgess' miss from 15m out on a slight angle.

Matt Crouch (38 disposals), Rory Laird (29) and Jordan Dawson (26 and 12 tackles) worked hard all night.

ADELAIDE          3.2     5.5       8.7     11.11 (77)
GEELONG           6.3     7.5     12.7     14.12 (96)

GOALS
Adelaide: Walker 2, Rankine 2, Fogarty 2, Burgess 2, Soligo, Rachele, O'Brien
Geelong: Hawkins 4, Miers 3, O.Henry 2, Cameron 2, Stengle, Mannagh, Close

BEST
Adelaide: Crouch, Dawson, Hinge, Laird, Worrell, O'Brien
Geelong: Stewart, Miers, Dangerfield, Hawkins, Blicavs, Holmes

INJURIES
Adelaide: Nil
Geelong: Nil

LATE CHANGES
Adelaide: Nil
Geelong: Mitch Duncan and Tom Atkins replaced by Brandan Parfitt and Mitch Knevitt

SUBSTITUTES
Adelaide: Ned McHenry (replaced Sam Berry in the third quarter)
Geelong: Mitch Knevitt (replaced Patrick Dangerfield in the fourth quarter)

Crowd: 44,758 at Adelaide Oval