Patrick Dangerfield's resume as a midfielder speaks for itself; a Brownlow Medal, eight All-Australian selections and three Carji Greeves Medals just to name a few of his accolades.

But his new venture inside the forward 50 has been a raging success for Geelong early in 2025, particularly on Friday night in a dominant performance against Melbourne.

Dangerfield kicked a game-high three goals and recorded nine score involvements from his 20 disposals against the Demons, marking the third time in four weeks that he has kicked two majors or more in a match. 

Through the first month of the season, the captain has booted seven goals which is tied with Jeremy Cameron and Tyson Stengle for the most by any Geelong player, an impressive feat considering the Cats are currently the second highest scoring team in the competition behind Adelaide. 

Speaking with SEN's Crunch Time following the round four victory, Dangerfield said the move forward became more appealing the further he went into his career. 

"You are not quite able to do the things that you once did, you can do them in spits and spurts but you just can't do it as consistently, Father Time defeats all eventually," Dangerfield said. 

"I attend a few centre bounces and then drift forward. It has been good to train there throughout the pre-season, because previously I relied a bit on speed but as you get older you need to have a few more tricks in your bag. 

"It is probably more the ability to repeat and get up really fast three or four times, that has always been one of the best parts of my game but as you get older, you don't have as much of that ability.

"I still feel like I have speed and power, that is still there but it is more the repeat ability. That sort of diminishes a bit, and I think that is where that forward line mix has been really good, because it does give you the ability to recharge between contests rather than always being at a cruising speed which midfielders often are."

One key feature of Geelong's performance on Friday night was their ability to control the game, accumulating a total of 165 marks which is the 12th most marks ever taken in a match across V/AFL history. 

The defensive unit in particular was sensational, with the likes of Zach Guthrie (17 marks), Connor O'Sullivan (13 marks) and Lawson Humphries (13 marks) leading the way throughout the night. 

While it was a big factor in Geelong's win on Friday night, Dangerfield told SEN that it was not necessarily a prime focus in the game plan heading into the match. 

"I didn't feel like we played the ideal game, I don't feel like we really want to mark the ball all that much," Dangerfield said. 

"Absolutely we want to control the play, but also there are times where I feel like we could have attacked a bit better than what we did.

"It is one thing to maintain possession, but when you can get into a zone where you can attack the goal face, I think we can still make some tweaks there.

"It really wasn't a coaching thing pre-game saying we need to go and mark the hell out of the ball tonight, it wound up being that way where we could possess the ball more and it did take the wind out Melbourne's sails in a way."