DEFENDER Colin Garland has lauded the leadership of skipper Brad Green.

The captain hit back in Melbourne’s 96-point win over Adelaide Crows at the MCG on Sunday, having coming under the microscope from sections of the football public in the lead-up.

But Garland said his Tasmanian teammate had never wavered in his ability to lead, after the club came under scrutiny, following its loss to West Coast Eagles in round six.

“Brad’s been great all year. His performances haven’t been where he’s wanted them to be, but he hasn’t let it affect his leadership at all,” he said from AAMI Park on Monday.

“We all look up to Brad. He’s the most professional player at our club and we knew the tide was going to turn.

“You never question Brad’s effort and he’s inspiring to play under. He just said ‘it’s time that we stood up for the club’.

“We’ve got North [Melbourne] this week and we’ve moved on pretty quickly, because he (Green) said ‘one week is not good enough’.”

Garland also gave praise to midfielder Brent Moloney, who had a remarkable 19 clearances against Adelaide.  

“I haven’t noticed a difference in Brent’s approach,” he said.

“He’s always and probably the No.1 guy who approaches training with that real physical mindset.

“Him and Russian Jamar have got such a good combination going at the moment. They do a lot of work at training together and Brent is always one of those blokes you know is always going to put in 100 per cent.

“That incident [when he lost the vice-captaincy] hasn’t affected Brent’s professionalism around the club and he’s having a great year and I hope it continues.”

And Garland said Colin Sylvia’s ability to ignite Melbourne was critical to the side’s fortunes.

“Col’s one of our best players and when he’s playing good footy, Melbourne’s playing good footy,” he said. 

“His score involvements are right up there in the AFL, so Col just needs to bring that every week. He’s really inspiring the way he goes about it.

“He’s really physical and we need Col playing like that every week, because he’s one of our better players.”

Garland said Sylvia had the ability to become an elite player in the competition.

“Col’s got the capabilities of being a really good player in the AFL and I think his best footy’s still ahead of him,” he said.

“He’s played over 100 games and probably the penny dropped for him the year before last, when Bails had come to the club.

“He instilled the belief that he could be a really good player in the competition. We think that he’s capable of it.”