When he was driving to the football on Saturday however, the upcoming challenge might not have seemed much like fun.
Buddy Franklin must be a nightmare to play on. The height and reach of a ruckman and the ground-level agility of a rover - what an incredibly difficult match-up.
Geelong defender Matthew Scarlett is an all-time great, but it is Taylor who takes Franklin. Likewise, Harry gets Nick Riewoldt, Jonathan Brown or Matthew Pavlich.
Scarlett has the bigger reputation, yet in difficulty of task, Taylor gets the biggest job.
He was a guest on the BigPond Sports Weekend show yesterday and in keeping with the entire Cats' leadership group, comes across as a well-balanced, well-rounded very talented footballer.
About to become a fully qualified physiotherapist, Taylor extends that same ability to learn into his footy preparation by keeping a detailed file on all his opponents. He would not disclose the exact nature of the Franklin file but they would have included engaging the Hawk forward's body in the marking contest, and not allowing him to reach up full height without body contact.
This, Taylor did extremely well and in the air he was well on top.
On all the other big forwards that would probably be enough to take the points. Not Franklin, who must be the biggest half-forward flanker in the history of the game because the fantastic run-and-agility part of his game should not possible for a player of 196cm and 102kg.
He grabbed a couple of one-grab overhead contested marks in the last quarter but, largely, it was Franklin's ground-level play that made him so dangerous.
Only seven marks, but 22 disposals and six scoring shots is proof that, while Taylor did well in the marking contest, Franklin still won the duel over all and was one of the Hawks' best few players.
I'm sure Taylor's dossier on Franklin already included the Hawks' fantastic recovery and ability to hunt the footy when it hits the ground.
It also proves that knowing the problem is the easy part compared to finding the solution.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs.
