Top-four aspirants Geelong have cruised to a 66-point win over a depleted Essendon side at Etihad Stadium.

The Bombers lost skipper Brendon Goddard to a groin injury in the first quarter and never troubled the Cats, who had 10 goal kickers in the 15. 10 (100) to 4.10 (34) win in front of 29,254 fans.

Geelong’s 14th win of the season keeps them well in the fight for a top-four berth, but with Essendon a man down and languishing in last place, Chris Scott’s men perhaps missed an opportunity to give their percentage an even larger boost.

But after their second goalless first half of the season, the Bombers at least kept working and broke through for three goals in the third quarter to trail by 54 points at the last change.

Patrick Dangerfield, Cameron Guthrie and Corey Enright were prominent with 29 possessions each, with Dangerfield also managing seven clearances.

Tom Hawkins led the way in attack for the Cats with three goals, but spurned the opportunity to help himself to a larger haul with inaccurate kicking resulting in four behinds.

James Kelly impressed for Essendon against his old side with 26 touches, with another former Cat in Mitch Brown finishing with 25 disposals and 18 marks.

Saints crush Carlton

Meanwhile, St Kilda turned up the heat on injury-riddled North Melbourne, crushing Carlton by 71 points at the MCG to remain in the AFL finals equation.

The Saints outclassed the Blues on Sunday, increasing their lead at every break to triumph 19.8 (122) to 7.9 (51).

Jack Billings fires of a handball against Carlton. Photo: AAP

It remains unlikely St Kilda will return to finals for the first time since 2011, having lost a veritable eight-point clash with North in round 19.

A percentage gap of 16.4 and two wins is currently the difference between eighth-placed North and the ninth-placed Saints.

That means they almost certainly won’t change spots unless St Kilda win their next three games and North lose their final three.

Kennedy stars for Eagles

Josh Kennedy booted seven goals to help West Coast overcome an early scare in their 46-point AFL win over Fremantle in Sunday’s western derby at Domain Stadium.

The Dockers threatened to cause a derby boilover after opening up a 15-point lead midway through the second term.

Fremantle had dominated the contest up until that point, and their lead would have been even bigger had they cashed in on some gettable chances on goal.

But West Coast booted nine of the next 10 goals to run out 17.8 (110) to 9.10 (64) winners in front of 36,215 fans.

Kennedy won the Ross Glendinning medal as best afield.

His match-winning haul took his season tally to 67 – six goals ahead of Sydney’s Lance Franklin and Gold Coast’s Tom Lynch in the race for the Coleman Medal.