PATRICK Dangerfield spent the week at home in the bitter cold of Moggs Creek, while his teammates trained and sweated under the Gold Coast sun.

But it didn't seem to matter one bit. Dangerfield remained in Victoria awaiting the birth of his first child (a boy, George), and hit the ground running when he finally made it to Queensland.

With 38 disposals and three goals he was his team's best in Geelong's thumping 85-point win over a hapless Brisbane Lions, and coach Chris Scott lauded the professionalism of the reigning Brownlow medallist.

"It's been a great week for him and we didn't have any doubt he would handle it as a professional," Scott said.

"It's fantastic to have some of our best players – I'd throw Mitch Duncan into that group as well, Joel Selwood, Mark Blicavs – who are also our most professional.

"We really value the week we've had up in Queensland and the professionalism which the boys approached that week, as well as marry it up with some down time, was a credit to them.

"More of a challenge to come up in really good shape for Paddy, obviously. He's had some distractions and was isolated from the main group, but he performed the way we suspected he would."

Geelong has unveiled a competition-high eight debutants this year already, while maintaining third spot on the ladder.

While some selections have been forced through injury, the vast majority of the kittens (as they were) have performed admirably on the big stage.

After stringing eight consecutive games together, rookie James Parsons kicked a career-high three goals against the Lions.

"We're really happy with the way he's going," Scott said.

"We've had some significant injuries to our small and mid-sized forwards, so the fact he's stepped up, another that's come off the rookie list for us, is great for him.

"We had confidence in him, but it's really helped the team because we had a deficit there."

Other young players to catch the eye against the Lions included tall forward Wylie Buzza, who didn't get on the scoreboard but seemed to create excitement whenever he was near the ball.

Defender Zach Guthrie, another off the rookie list, showed some poise with ball in hand and had 100 per cent disposal efficiency.

Brandon Parfitt has taken on the mantle of Jimmy Bartel's No.3 guernsey, and while he was relatively quiet in his return from a hamstring injury, displayed excellent skills.