GEELONG defeated Carlton by a lazy 20 points at Optus Oval on Saturday, and find themselves in the semi-final of the Wizard Home Loans Cup for the second year in a row. The Cats will play Melbourne this Friday night at Telstra Dome. The Demons have had two good wins, over the Kangaroos in Canberra in round 1, and West Coast on Friday night at Telstra Dome.

Cameron Ling was Geelong's best on Saturday at Optus Oval, with near 30 possessions and booting three goals, including the sealer in the final term. Also impressing fans and no doubt the selectors, were Matthew McCarthy, Henry Playfair, Shannon Byrnes and David Spriggs. Playfair took over the ruck duties when David Loats left the field, apparently injured, and did his chances of selection in Round One no harm.

Although Geelong lead at every change, they had to come from behind small deficits in the second and third quarters. But that was only due to Geelong's general inaccuracy in front of goal at times in the first half. In the second half, the Cats kicked seven goals three behinds, booting four straight in the final term.

Blues forward Lance "Subway" Whitnall helped himself to five goals before half time while opposed to Cameron Mooney. After Matthew Scarlett was moved onto him, Whitnall barely had a touch.

Ruckman Paul Chambers will play on Friday night, while Gary Ablett is an outside chance to have a run. Ablett would have played in a practice match this weekend, however seeing Geelong is still in the Wizard Cup, he is likely to again play for the VFL team in a practice match.

GEELONG: 0.4.3, 0.6.5, 0.9.8, 0.13.8 (86) defeated
CARLTON: 1.1.0, 1.5.1, 1.7.1, 1.9.3 (66).

GOALS: Geelong: McCarthy 4, Ling 3, Kingsley 2, Riccardi 2, Graham, Milburn. Carlton: Whitnall 5, Harford 2, Morell (9 pointer), Fevola, Johnson.

CROWD: 12,000 (Estimated)