HE'S BEEN nicknamed 'Humphrey' by his teammates for his quietness around the club.

But after Sunday Colin Garland is more likely to be known as 'Ossie Ostrich' for putting his neck on the line to play on the competition's hottest player - Lance Franklin.

The 20-year-old produced arguably the best performance of any AFL player to spend an entire match on the Hawthorn superstar this season, restricting Franklin to just 3.3 at the MCG on Sunday.

And although 3.3 is often not regarded as a good effort - it still was from Franklin - but the fact 'Buddy' was held below his goal average (5.25) and scoring shot average (nine) per match this season was testimony to Garland.  

"It was a pretty big challenge. I got told at the start of the week [that I was going to play on him] and he's a star player, so to keep him to three goals - I'd take that at the start of the game," Garland told melbournefc.com.au.

"It was pretty daunting at first. He's probably the competition's best player at the moment and I just found it to be a good opportunity and I just tried to prove myself to the boys and the coaching staff. I just hoped I could do a good job on him."

In just his eighth AFL match, Garland's ability to man, run and jump with Franklin resulted in his best effort so far, giving the red and blue a glimpse to the future with his efforts down back.

"He's a freak. He's surprisingly very strong and he's so tall - around a ruckman's size - so you've got to compete in the air first and then once he hits the ground," Garland said.

"He kicked one from 50 metres on the boundary, so if you give him an inch, he'll take a mile."

Still, the 191cm tall is versatile enough to play up forward and in the midfield, along with matching up on talls and smalls. But at the moment, he is enjoying fulfilling a role down back.

"I played on [Jeff] Farmer a couple of weeks ago and I had [Brett] Burton for a quarter and a half and kept him goalless, but I've been playing forward and back and hopefully it's something I can build on," Garland said.

"At the moment [I'm best suited to] defence, as I'm reading the play and have got a job to do and I can concentrate on that … but I just want to attack the ball and I've got closing speed, so I've been playing on some of the small Aboriginal guys.

"I played forward last week and hopefully I can play both roles and they can swing me down back or up forward - like an Adam Hunter type of role."

Originally from North Hobart, Garland was selected at No.46 in the 2006 NAB AFL Draft, making his AFL debut in round five against Sydney last year. He made two appearances in 2007, but has since added six matches to his name this year.

After a year of acclimatisation - when he gained his nickname - Garland has taken the next step, not just on the field, but also off it.

"You need the first six months just to adjust to the lifestyle [in Victoria] because Tassie is such a small place - you know everybody. I was probably the quietest bloke at the club last year - everyone called me Humphrey," Garland said.

"This year 'Bails' [Dean Bailey] has showed a lot more faith in me. I'm really comfortable in the group now and I can speak up - they've (the coaching staff) shown a lot of confidence in me, which is good, especially for me as I'm a confidence player.

"I played okay in round one and in the next two weeks I was below par, so I went back to 'Sandy' and got in the best both times and got that confidence back, so I feel more able now and I feel I can take the game on, play on good players and the confidence is there."