TWO MONTHS ago Colin Garland was embarrassed and emotional when talking about Melbourne.
Now he's encouraged.
Garland spoke after Sunday's 31-point loss to the Sydney Swans in far different circumstances to his previous media conference.
Back in May, the Demons had just lost to Gold Coast by 10 goals.
As pressure mounted about the future of then-coach Mark Neeld, Garland drew the short straw.
"I haven't lost any faith the whole way through and that's why it was frustrating and that's why I was emotional at the time," Garland said on Sunday.
"I didn't understand where we were at.
"But I've never lost faith in the club's direction."
Garland was among the best for Melbourne, who lacked nothing for effort against the defending premiers.
Like Melbourne's caretaker coach Neil Craig, Garland had mixed emotions about the match.
"Sydney will tell you they've had to play four quarters against us," Garland said.
"Maybe earlier in the year we were two-and-a-half quarters and then we were gone.
"But ... there were some areas of the game where we really got shown up.
"The good thing is, you can't go out into a shop and buy the experience we had today."
Garland said whoever coaches Melbourne next year will not be taking over a basket case.
"In a lot of ways, with what Mark did, it's really held us in good stead," he said.
"It was just crippling, unfortunately, the attention we were having at the time - it was an untenable situation we were in.
"But the lessons we've learnt off the field are going to hold us in good stead in years to come.
"Whoever coaches us this year, this group is in a lot better position than it was the last time a new coach came in, that's for sure."
