Charlie Curnow was dominant in Carlton's forward line, kicking five goals. (Getty Images: Dylan Burns)
Carlton have resisted a Jeremy Cameron-inspired Geelong comeback to end a horror run in tight contests with an eight-point victory, leaving the reigning AFL premiers winless after two rounds.
Star forward Charlie Curnow kicked five goals as the Blues surged clear during the third quarter before hanging on for a nervy 13.12 (90) to 12.10 (82) triumph at the MCG.
The Cats trailed by 28 points late in the third term but cut it back to a single-figure margin with plenty of time left as Cameron booted three final-quarter goals.
Cameron finished with 6.1 from 25 disposals and eight marks in a superb performance, despite being banged up after a series of big collisions, but couldn't drag Geelong over the line.
The Cats were left licking their wounds, nursing a 0-2 record for the first time since 2015.
Curnow caused headaches for Geelong for most of the night, kicking goals in each of the first three terms.
Adam Saad was one of the Blues' best on the night. (Getty Images: Daniel Pockett)
Last year's Coleman Medal winner booted majors with five of his first six kicks as he made life difficult for remodelled Cats defender Esava Ratugolea.
At the other end, Cameron fired but was one of several Geelong players in the wars.
He had a nasty gash above his right eye patched up and copped a heavy blow to the ribs in a final-quarter contest, while teammate Sam De Koning was cleared of concussion after a head knock.
Rhys Stanley copped a blow to the ribs in a ruck contest and was substituted out for debutant Cooper Whyte at the final change.
The Blues' midfield was already missing Sam Walsh (back) and George Hewett (hand) before Patrick Cripps had his influence limited by Mark Blicavs in the second term.
But Cripps (27 disposals) and Matthew Kennedy (26) stood up, with Ed Curnow (26) and dashing defender Adam Saad (29) also influential.
Carlton made a late change before the bounce, bringing in Marc Pittonet as ruck support for Tom De Koning, in place of small forward Jack Martin.
De Koning held his own against Stanley and Blicavs.
Small forwards Matthew Owies (three goals), Jesse Motlop and Zac Fisher (one each) all complimented Curnow, though fellow tall Harry McKay was wasteful in finishing with 1.1 from his 10 disposals.
Owies held his nerve to kick the Blues' final goal of the night from a set shot, holding off Geelong's surge.
Cameron Guthrie (25 disposals), Isaac Smith (23), Max Holmes (23) and Patrick Dangerfield (22) were among the Cats' chief ball-winners and Ollie Henry kicked two goals.
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Thanks for sticking around for all the wash up to what was a pretty darn good game of footy.
Those were two teams I expect to be playing deep in September, and though the quality of the game didn't quite live up to those standards, the spirit of the teams certainly made up for it.
Keep an eye on ABC Sport throughout the rest of round two and all season for everything AFL. Goodnight.
There's perspective and confidence flowing from Chris Scott, but it's not all going to be rosy inside the Cats camp.
"Don't mistake what we're saying for 'don't worry about it, we'll be fine', we're not that in love with ourselves.
"But we knew it would be a hard year and we knew we would have periods playing against good opposition and it doesn't quite go your way.
"We'll bounce back in 48 hours and go again."
"I was rapt with Jack Bowes's first game for the club. He missed a goal late but was outstanding for us early playing as a high back, really liked his game.
"I look at Tanner Bruhn and think he is going to be a good player, so we were never in the position where 'if these guys don't knock it out of the park in the first two rounds, we're going to be shattered'.
"If anything, we're going 'yeah, this is really positive for us'."
A mixed bag.
"We thought we were really average early and good late.
"We try to make sure that we take a step back and look at it from a few different perspectives and sort of see the whole picture as opposed to getting caught in 'you know, we were really smacked in possession early', and we thought a lot of that is an easy fix. We contributed to that a lot."
Scott is speaking about the changes to the Cats' list in 2023, and what that means for onfield performance in the early stages of the season:
"It didn't quite look like the way we wanted to play, but we were always conscious we were going to be different.
"We have come to this year with the view we are going to be different, there are going to be teething problems with a few things and we've lost a couple of close games but there is still a lot to like. So there's a quiet confidence about us."
The Cats coach is reacting to his side's 0-2 start to the season:
"We always knew it would be a hard year.
"I think we would be saying the same thing if we'd have won two close games, so the fact we haven't got over the line, there's the disappointment there that's obvious but it's certainly not a situation where we're really panicking."
Always an enjoyable press conference when Chris Scott is involved. His thoughts will be fascinating, as always.
Voss says it could be.
I think those moments, if you want to call it that, is something you look back on.
But right now it's a monumental moment for us because it's a significant win. You get lot of confidence and belief out of that.
"It had to be that way, didn't it? Just had to be that way.
"I said to the players afterwards, 'it had to be that way. We had to win really tough in the end'."
Michael Voss says tonight's performance looked more like how he wants his team to play than last week:
"I thought we had great balance in our game. Our contest was A+, but also the balance on both sides of the ball was pretty good tonight.
"It was challenged, absolutely challenged, but we stood up."
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