DEFENDER Colin Garland says he deliberately kept a low profile this year to concentrate on his game.

Garland, who was previously a member of the club’s leadership group, was determined to focus on his game after some tough times at the club and injury-interrupted 2014, when he suffered an ankle injury.

“I was pretty disappointed with my previous year. I was injured early and then I came back and struggled for consistency, especially later in the year,” he told Dee TV.

“I really wanted to strip it back and concentrate on my footy. It’s an old cliché but I wanted to do that this year. I feel the way I mentally approached my game was much better.

“I wanted to strip it back and concentrate on the role that Paul [Roos] and the rest of the coaching group had for me.”

Garland said “a few things really worked against me last year” before he got back on track in 2015.

“I had an ankle operation in February, which is not ideal going into the season. I’m the kind of person who needs continuity in their training. I’m not a naturally aerobic animal like a lot of the players here,” he said.

“When I can actually compete, I think I can really lead from the front. But last year, I felt like I couldn’t do that, so that’s why this year I wanted to focus on myself and get myself up for games and compete as hard as I could.

“I don’t take my place in the team for granted and I really value it so I wanted to get the best out of myself.”

Garland was adamant his change his tack helped his game this year.

“I did. I don’t think that it changed the way I was around the club at all, but I felt like I had more time to myself,” he said.

“I knew that I needed to continue to improve as a player and I knew that for the team to get better, every player needed to get better, including myself. I feel like it did help me.

“At the end of last year, I’d had eight years of not much success. I was probably a little bit burned out. I wasn’t really sure about where my footy was going, so this year I felt a lot better during the season. The club is in a great place so I’m feeling a lot better.”