The Cats pulled away after a tight encounter to secure a 12.12 (84) to 7.8 (50) win in front of 45,372 at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.

Port had lost 13 of their past 14 meetings with Geelong and entered the clash off the back of a surprise loss to Essendon.

Lindsay Thomas was given a last-minute call-up to play his first game for Port after Todd Marshall failed to recover from a concussion.

Thomas is likely to be sent back to the sidelines, however, after he was reported for high contact on Geelong's Scott Selwood in the second quarter.

Cats coach Chris Scott said Selwood was a "sick boy" and described the incident as serious.

"It was pretty clear right away that he wouldn't be able to come back," he said.

Key Cats forward Tom Hawkins also pulled out just before the bounce due to back spasms during the warm-up.

The home side finished the first quarter trailing by 12 points and without a single mark inside 50, and things went from bad to worse early in the second when Hamish Hartlett was taken from the ground on a stretcher with head injuries after a collision with Patrick Dangerfield.

But momentum turned late in the first half, with Port kicking three unanswered goals finally finding form.

They trailed by nine at the major break and, despite outplaying the Cats in the third term, struggled to convert and started the fourth quarter 11 points down.

Scott said a slower style of attack from Port Adelaide favoured his side.

"I can't say that I agree with the idea that they were on top in the game," he said.

"I thought we actually had control over most of it and the game was being played the way we wanted it to be."

Geelong kicked six of the last seven goals to seal a convincing win as Port's intensity rapidly dropped off.

Coach Ken Hinkley said that despite the defeat he was satisfied his team had improved on last week's performance.

"Our pressure was up tonight, I thought we were a bit better in that space but obviously our finish was really poor and their finish was really strong," he said.

"We had them under real pressure in the third quarter and then they just found a way where we dominated a patch of play and we couldn't score, and that was pretty much the whole night."

Joel Selwood (29 disposals), Dangerfield (28) and Sam Menegola (26) were standouts for Geelong.

Australian Associated Press