PORK pasta and copious litres of milk are driving Harry Taylor's meticulous preparation for finals footy as he continues to manage lingering foot concerns.

Taylor returned to play his first game since round 16 in Saturday's 133-point demolition of Fremantle, slotting into the backline after two stints in attack earlier this season.

Now with the Cats on the cusp of finals, the 32-year-old says he is just happy to be back after two plantar fascia setbacks followed by a torn tendon in his left foot.

"I woke up this morning, had those butterflies and the anxiousness which is one of the great parts of the game I love," Taylor said post-match.

"All the preparation that goes into your performance, the pasta the night before, all the nostalgic things, it was great to go through that process again.

"My wife makes a beautiful pork pasta, slow-cooked throughout the day…. (I) go up the stairs, I can smell it."

The dual All Australian also hopes the two litres of full cream milk he drinks each day was helping strengthen the bones in his foot while building back to full fitness.

"It is ongoing in terms of getting the strength back into my foot," he said.

"It's healing, starting to align and knit back together the right way, it's about just constantly looking after it at this stage.

"It takes up a fair bit of time, daily just doing exercises around the intrinsic muscles in your feet, all those little muscles that help flex your toes and move your foot around.

"It's probably not overly onerous compared to other things that I do, I am quite meticulous in my preparation. It's just a new element that I haven't had to do in the last 11 years."

Having missed 15 matches this year and playing two VFL matches in separate comebacks, Taylor admits he held concerns over his season in the past six weeks.

"I was probably a little bit worried at one stage when I tore my posterior tibialis muscle, or tendon component of that in the Sydney game (round 16)," he said.

"They can be very slow and if you do rupture those, they can be quite bad.

"Probably the first three weeks were pretty slow and were sort of wearing me down a little bit.

"It came a point where it turned a corner and really improved quickly. Once I got over that hump I could see some light (at the end of the tunnel)."

Taylor was put on ice in the latter stages against the Dockers ahead of the final round fixture with Gold Coast, the Cats needing a win to secure a finals berth.

With new-found defender Mark Blicavs excelling alongside Tom Stewart and Lachie Henderson, Taylor's shift back allowed rookie Jack Henry to stay forward and Jake Kolodjashnij to move to the wing.

While Taylor insists he's more comfortable in defence, he acknowledges there will be times he's needed in attack in coming weeks.

"It (defence) comes probably a little bit more instinctively and a bit easier for me," he said.

"There'll be other times in the season where I might have to go forward, play in the ruck, whatever it might be.

"I'm more than happy to do that, I just need to keep preparing as well as I can for those roles."

Contracted for next season, Taylor will be looking to book his 10th September campaign in the 11th year of his career against the Suns at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday.