JACK Trengove says it was surreal experience to have Mark Neeld replaced as coach on Monday.

Although Neil Craig will now be the co-captain’s fourth coach in as many seasons, Trengove said it was still a difficult situation to explain.

“It’s one of those weird things that you never wish any player to go through, having your coach sacked,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been through it before and it’s one of those things that, once the decision’s made and final, the only thing you can do as a player is move on and look forward to this week.

“We’re solely focused on this week’s game, even though we feel bad for Neeldy, because as players you’ve got to take responsibility for it all. But now that the decision has been made and is final, we can move on with things.”

Trengove indicated his frustration at not having had stability in a senior coach.

“Some players go through their whole 10-year career with the one coach, but this is my fourth in my fourth year and it’s the only thing I know at the moment, so it’s a matter of continually trying to improve myself and the team,” he said.

“Whatever Craigy has to say and wants to implement, I’ll do as best as I can moving forward with that, and when next year comes around and the club hires a new coach, we’ll go forward with that.

“It comes back to controlling what you can control, and that’s doing everything possible with the current coaching group – that’s Craigy and the remaining assistant coaches. We’re making sure that we’re taking steps forward for the rest of the season.”

Trengove said he gave Neeld a call on Tuesday to see how he was faring.

“I gave him a call and had a chat to him before he was going away for a couple of weeks, just to get away from everything,” he said.

“He did a lot of things for me as an individual and I’ve got a good relationship with him - that’s footy at the end of the day.

“Decisions have to be made - that’s what the club went and did and I’ll support them fully. I’ll just look forward to what the next chapter has in store.”

With Craig now in charge, Trengove said he wouldn’t have to change under the former Adelaide coach, who guided the Crows to 166 matches from 2004-11.

“I’m lucky enough to have a really good relationship with Craigy, which I’ve built up over the last 18 months,” he said.

“There will be certain slants that he has as a senior coach that’ll be different to Neeldy, but as a whole, I’ll just continue doing what I’ve been doing. That is, working closely with the other leaders and making sure that we’re still making improvements each week.

“We’re trying to develop individual players into a team, because at the end of the day, no matter what coaches and other senior people go through the club, the majority of the players are going to remain the same going forward, so we’ve got to prove ourselves to be a top four side of the future.”

Trengove said he and fellow co-captain Jack Grimes had spoken to the players since Neeld’s departure to ensure they remained “tight and close”.

“It’s an important role that we play, getting around each individual and making sure they’re dealing with this OK. Everyone deals with it differently,” he said.

“If people start breaking apart, then everything falls apart, so now the decision has been made and it’s been final, we have to move on and continue trying to improve.”

Trengove said this Saturday’s twilight clash against St Kilda was set to be a fascinating encounter, given that both clubs have both endured much publicised scrutiny.

“The Saints have been up and down this year and it is a winnable game to an extent, but we go into each game thinking it’s going to be a winnable game,” he said.

“We’re going in with a really positive attitude and Craigy will bring in a few different things and change it up slightly, so we’ll go in and attack every ball as we can. Hopefully we can come away with a good result.

“But it adds another element with the Saints having some off-field issues as well, so you can’t read into that too much. All I can promise is that we’re going to have a fair dinkum crack at them.”