Lachie Henderson is starting to build fitness and form and hopes he his injury troubles are behind him.

Henderson missed the first eleven weeks of the season with a knee injury but has played two games with the VFL side since returning, including Saturday’s victory over Port Melbourne.

The match conditions were not ideal for a key position player with fierce winds and sporadic showers making for a difficult day for tall marking players.

However, Henderson held his own and along with Harry Taylor and their fellow VFL defenders, were able to keep Port Melbourne to six goals for the day to help the Cats over the line.

Henderson racked up a game-high eight rebound 50s and was content with his performance in his second game back.

“I was okay, nothing out of the ordinary, I was solid enough but nothing great,” Henderson said.

“It was a solid win, difficult conditions out there, (Port Melbourne) played pretty well and it was tough.”

After playing three quarters in his return game last week, Henderson was able to play the full match on Saturday but the defender acknowledged that his match fitness is still a work in progress.

“Lincoln McCarthy spoke about his comeback and said the second (match) was tougher and I definitely felt that,” Henderson said.

“It definitely was tougher but it felt good to be out there.

“I had no caps at all and played the full game, just had a few rests in between to try and get the breath back.”

Henderson’s momentum will be halted this week, with both the AFL and VFL side set for a week off.

The bye comes at an awkward time for Henderson, as the key defender’s body will likely benefit from the rest but he would also love to continue playing after missing most of the season already.

“It was a long road, obviously some boys have been on longer roads but it wasn’t a fun one,” Henderson said.

The key defender will head to the Gold Coast with his teammates over the bye week and assess how his body feels when he returns.

“I was pretty buggered after last week, so this week I had a bit of a rest during the week but I’ll see how I feel in 10 days,” he said.

“I’ve played these two games, now we’ve got two weeks to revaluate and go from there.”

Henderson has intentions to return to the AFL side but whether that is immediately after the bye or further down the track is a conversation he is yet to have with the Cats’ coaching staff.

“I haven’t had the conversation yet with the coaches, whether they think I’m ready and even if I think I’m ready yet,” Henderson said.

“I’ll have a chat to the coaches over the next two weeks and see how they feel and how I pull up and go from there.”