With Melbourne starting its pre-season campaign on October 13 last year – the first AFL club to do so and just two weeks after Hawthorn's premiership – Garland said the team is now eager to see where it is at.
"Everyone is looking forward to seeing how far we've come and how far we've improved," he told melbournefc.com.au.
"We've put in that much hard work that we want to show how much we've improved since last year.
"I've done the whole pre-season so far, but I'm looking forward to the first game of the NAB Cup now, because it's been a long time since October 13."
Garland said Melbourne's pre-season – the club's second under coach Dean Bailey – had been vastly different to 2007/08.
"Purely from the fact that we've had a lot more players on the track and we know what direction Dean is trying to take the club. We've worked on game plans and situations, so from that aspect, it's been better," the 20-year-old said.
"With more people training, we've been able to complete longer drills. And now that we're out at Casey, we've got goalposts, so that's helped with match simulations.
"It's just so hard training on grounds that aren't football sizes. You need to be able to simulate sessions. Having players on the track means everyone is up and about.
"We've had a team event during the pre-season, which was a lot of fun. Everyone got into that and it's also great to see the likes of Jared Rivers and Brent Moloney training [after injury riddled 2008 seasons]."
As for dealing with Victoria's heat-wave last week, Garland said it didn't hinder Melbourne's program at all.
"We didn't train in the worst part of the day. By 8am, we were already on the track, but on some occasions it was 40 degrees mid-way through the session," he said.
"We haven't changed training at all. We've trained short and really well, but it was hard to sleep – that's for sure."
