GEELONG capped a sensational season with the biggest win in AFL grand final history yesterday, a 119-point thrashing of Port Adelaide at the MCG.

The mammoth win, in front of a crowd of 97,302, dwarfed Hawthorn's 96-point win over Melbourne in 1998 as the greatest margin in an AFL/VFL premiership decider.

It ended a 44-year premiership doubt for the Cats, whose previous flag came in 1963, the club suffering through five losing grand finals in between.

It was the culmination of a run of 19 wins in 20 matches with which the Cats finished the season, their only loss in that time coming against the Power at Skilled Stadium in round 21.

The Cats dominated from the outset, outscoring the Power 5.7 to 2.2 in the opening term, before kicking five goals in the first 12 minutes of the second quarter to build a 52-point lead and have the game wrapped up.

Geelong were on top in every facet of the contest, with their defence - which has been the best in the competition all season - keeping the Power to their lowest score of the year.

The back lines, led by an incredibly dominant performance by Matthew Scarlett at fullback, repeatedly turned defence into attack, rushing the ball forward to give the Geelong forwards acres of space.

Half-forwards Paul Chapman and Norm Smith Medal winner Steve Johnson were both magnificent, kicking four goals each and setting up numerous others, combining hard work with some moments of sheer brilliance.

Chapman's fine day included a sensational high mark over Power captain Warren Tredrea during the third quarter.

Key forwards Cam Mooney (five goals) and Nathan Ablett (three) also performed strongly.

And Geelong had a huge spread of midfield contributors.

Power taggers Kane Cornes and Domenic Cassisi performed reasonably well against Cats stars Jimmy Bartel and Gary Ablett respectively.

But it did not hurt Geelong at all, with Joel Corey, James Kelly, Joel Selwood and Cameron Ling all making solid midfield contributions and Brad Ottens and Steven King performing strongly in the ruck.

Johnson's medal win for best afield completed a stunning personal transformation after he was nearly traded by the club in the off-season, then was suspended by his teammates for the first five rounds this year after an off-field indiscretion over the summer.

The Cats became the first Victorian team to win the premiership since Essendon in 2000.

It capped a year in which they finished the home-and-away season three games clear in top spot and had a record nine All-Australian selections.

As well as Johnson's Norm Smith Medal, Bartel won the Brownlow Medal on Monday night, Gary Ablett was named the AFL players' association's MVP and Selwood the Rising Star.

Their VFL side also won that competition's premiership last weekend.

It was the first premiership for all 22 players in their side except for Mooney, who was part of the Kangaroos' premiership side in 1999.

Coach Mark Thompson became just the seventh man in VFL/AFL history to have captained a side to a premiership and go on to win the flag as a coach, having captained Essendon's victorious 1993 team.