It was the bump that summed up Geelong's fighting spirit.

In one corner was Steve Johnson; a 93kg fleet-footed forward desperate to secure a loose ball inside the Cats' attacking 50m.

In the other corner was a surging Aaron Sandilands; the 211cm, 122kg Fremantle Goliath eager to inflict some damage.

The subsequent hip and shoulder - with both players running at full pace - would have thrilled the purists, proving the bump was far from dead.

The bone-crunching impact sent both players crashing to the turf as the 37,004 fans at Patersons Stadium gushed in delight.

Johnson had every right to lie where he fell and curse the football gods for pitting him against such a monster.

But instead of moaning about his wretched luck, Johnson leapt to his feet in cat-like fashion, leaving Sandilands a tad miffed that his bump caused so little damage.

Geelong, who led by nine points at the time of the second-quarter clash, went on to win the match by 11.

And while Cats coach Chris Scott was far from pleased with Geelong's skill level, he couldn't fault the endeavour of Johnson and the rest of his charges.

"Well, 122kg hitting you front on, I could understand if he (Johnson) didn't get up," Scott said.

"He was pretty sore ... we were tempted to sub him because he just couldn't move at half-time.

"But he toughed it out. He's one of those freakish players. Maybe outside of Geelong the determination that he shows is a little bit underrated.

"(It was) very courageous when you look back at it, but that's what we expect of all our players."

Fremantle dominated for large periods of the second half and should have won the game.

But their waywardness in front of goal handed the result to Geelong, who gleefully accepted the gift to post the 13.11 (89) to 10.18 (78) triumph.

"We clearly have a group of players that aren't quite at their best at the moment in the way we're using the ball," Scott conceded.

"But the thing I'm still a little bit in awe of is just the strength of character in our players.

"They don't give up, they hate losing and that's the way they play. I'm really proud of them."

Despite missing the class of Joel Selwood, Matthew Scarlett and Cameron Mooney, the Cats still found enough leaders to secure the win, with Cameron Ling, Paul Chapman, Corey Enright, Johnson and Travis Varcoe standing tall, with late inclusion Daniel Menzel booting three important goals.

Scott was hopeful Selwood (concussion) and Mooney (general soreness) would be available for Sunday's home clash with Port Adelaide, but Tom Lonergan (calf) may miss another week.