HARRY Taylor proved you can teach an old Cat new tricks with a match-winning performance at Simonds Stadium on Saturday.

It was difficult to overlook the difference his four goals made to the final result.

Not only did the 31-year-old hit the scoreboard hard he quelled the game's best defender, Richmond's Alex Rance, to stop the Tigers in their tracks.

In doing so, he answered those critics who doubted whether he would ever succeed as a forward after training there for the first time during the pre-season.

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"You don't necessarily always get the ball coming down the way you like but you just have to hang in there and stick at it," Taylor said.

He now has 20 goals for the season for the first time in his career, having kicked two bags of five goals before his four-goal haul against Richmond.

One of those five-goal performances came against Adelaide when he carried ham in his sock, but this time there was no need for gags.

The saggy-panted swingman with the narrow hips and the sticky hands put in a workmanlike performance more in keeping with his defensive heritage.

"You just want to bring the ball to ground as much as you can and stop the intercept play that Richmond are so good [so] to be able to quell that influence a bit and contribute on the scoreboard a bit [was good]," Taylor said.

By half-time Taylor, who sees it as helpful to think like a defender when playing forward, had taken two contested marks inside 50 and kicked three goals and the game was tilted Geelong's way.

And so was the debate as to whether the Cats should have persisted with Taylor forward that raged unabated for the first half of the season.

He finished with four goals and admitted his confidence in front of goals was increasing.