GEELONG clicked when it counted, turning a tight contest into a blowout and extending its winning streak over North Melbourne to 15 matches.

When Jy Simpkin kicked a goal 29 minutes into the third term of Saturday's twilight game at GHMBA Stadium, the Kangaroos only trailed by four points.

CATS v KANGAROOS Full match coverage and stats

Cats forward Shannon Neale then closed out the quarter with two goals in as many minutes, before Geelong ran rampant in the final term for a 49-point win.

Despite giving up the first four goals of the game, the Kangaroos were right in the contest until the closing stages of the third term.

It's a hard pill to swallow for North Melbourne coach Alastair Clarkson, with the Roos letting a competitive performance slip late against a more "polished and clean" Geelong side.

"It's a difficult one. We're pleased we competed so strongly for a big portion of the game but obviously disappointed that we couldn't maintain the rage in that space," Clarkson said.

"When the game was opened up and the pressure came out of the game a little bit, they were able to score freely and they're hard to stop when they get forward momentum like that.

"We were just little bit sloppy with ball in hands, some of that was to do with the pressure that Geelong applied, but some of it was just errors that we made with the ball that we need to be better at.

"I just thought they were more polished and clean with the footy when they had their opportunities.

"In the times where we could have punished them with our ball use we just weren't quite as polished as they were ... we gave up some footy at crucial stages that allowed them to retain the ball in their front half and ultimately that overwhelmed us in the end."

Geelong utility Max Holmes was best afield, kicking two crucial goals in the third term and giving the Cats plenty of drive after moving into the midfield in the second half.

"We thought he was really influential," Geelong coach Chris Scott said.

"One of the things we needed to change was how we looked in front of the ball and, I was going to say it's a luxury, but most of the good teams have those sorts of players.

"North Melbourne are a good example of that, there's top three, top five picks everywhere that they can move around and have an influence. Max is kind of our version of that.

"It's a little bit unusual for him to be spending so much time in the forward half, but we thought the game called for it and we were pleased with his output."

After a terrible second term that featured only three goals despite near-perfect conditions, the Cats kicked away with 16 goals in the second half, including nine in the final quarter.

Scott said there were key areas where his side was initially beaten before they were able to shift the momentum.

"They are stacked with talent, they're really good around the contest and the numbers this year suggested that," Scott said.

"It was clear (in the first half) that their stoppage work was a problem for us, they do have a really seasoned ruckman as well who was playing well, so we just needed to support that a little bit more and that helped change the way the game was played.

"But even then, I don't think it was the whole second half (that the Cats were in control), it was only the last 10 minutes of that third quarter where it really felt like we got on top."