Esava Ratugolea is building up confidence in his body as he eyes an AFL return.

The 20-year-old made his return to football on Saturday after three months on the sidelines and importantly, got through the Cats’ VFL clash unscathed.

Along with aspirations to play in the AFL finals series, Ratugolea was just happy to be playing football again.

“It felt awesome (to be back), it was a long 10 weeks in rehab but it felt good to run out with the boys again,” he said.

“I missed the feeling, the feeling of prepping for a game, so that was really good and I got through which I’m happy with.”

Ratugolea played as a forward target and in the ruck throughout the game but most importantly got some much needed match fitness after his lengthy spell.

“This game was really just about ticking the legs over and getting to that 10km (target),” he said.

“My fitness is slowly getting there again. Just getting the kilometres back into me, so I did 10km again and I’ll gradually keep building it up as the games go on.

“I got put in the ruck in the last quarter just to get into the game a bit and again, I got through. That’s all I wanted to do really.”

With the AFL pre-finals bye this week, Ratugolea looks to have timed his run to perfection if he can get through another VFL match and push his case for selection.

“Three weeks ago I really set my eyes on this date, the ankle is feeling really good so I’m a bit ahead of schedule,” Ratugolea said.

“I’ll play (VFL) next week and then the week after if I have to, but I don’t really mind. I just want to play games of footy and get games back into my legs.”

For Ratugolea to earn an AFL recall, match fitness and form will come into consideration, but the key forward has also focused on building up confidence in his body.

After what he says was the most painful injury of his career, Ratugolea hopes to get back to the confidence levels he was showing before the injury in Round 10 of the AFL season.

“I’ve slowly started to build confidence into my game,” Ratugolea said.

“(The injury) was very annoying but I’m getting back into it and it is about building that confidence in my body up again.”

The VFL Cats will take on Casey in a Qualifying Final on Saturday afternoon.

VFL FINALS INFORMATION