Brett Burton (born 4 May 1978) is a retired
Australian rules footballer who played in the
Australian Football League. He was picked up at Pick 16 in the
1998 AFL Draft by the
Adelaide Football Club. He is noted for his
spectacular high marking, which saw him win the
AFL Mark of the Year in 2009, and freakish goal sense.
AFL career
Early career (1999-2000)
Brett Burton began his
AFL career in
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
aged 20. He immediately made a difference in the team, playing all games bar one, scoring 25 goals and averaging 19 disposals. He picked up 22 disposals in the game against
Geelong in Round 14. The next year he sustained several minor injuries that restricted his season to just nine games, averaging 15 disposals and kicking eight goals.
Birdman (2001)
He played 14 games in 2001, kicking a goal a game and winning several Mark of the Year nominations. During this time, he was nicknamed the "Birdman" by
Mike McLean from
Triple M
Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 40 radio stations broadcasting a mainstream rock music format and 5 digital radio stations.
The network dates back to ...
Football, a name that has stuck for the duration of his career.
2002-2006 seasons
2002 was a great year for Burton, who played all 25 games. He kicked six goals in a game against the
West Coast Eagles
The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football L ...
, as well as four bags of four, on his way to leading the Crows' goalscoring with 52. He also set up numerous chances for others, averaging 11 disposals per game in a largely forward role. In
2003 Burton's injury woes returned, as he missed out on eight consecutive games early in the season. On his return, however, he continued to dominate, kicking 23 goals from his 16 games and moving up the field to average 21 disposals.
2004 was a poor year for Adelaide, but it was even worse for Burton. He played just 13 games in another injury-cursed year, and he struggled for consistency. Continuing to play up the field, he managed to average 20 disposals per game, but kicked only eight goals. As the Crows flew high in
2005, however, so did Burton; he played 20 games, averaging 20 disposals and kicking 14 goals, having also assisted in the scoring of many others. A return to the forward line in
2006 and the Crows' continued dominance saw Burton kick 27 goals from his first 10 games, before injury damned the rest of his – and Adelaide's – season.
Major injuries (2007-2008)
In
2007, Burton started the year by injuring his knee in the first game. Due to the Crows' injury ravaged squad, he continued to play on until round 8, when he finally had minor surgery. On his return the Crows pushed him forward and he helped the Crows grab on to eighth spot and compete in the finals, but despite a strong showing the Crows could not over come
Hawthorn in the Elimination Final.
For the first time at the club, Burton was able to complete an uninterrupted pre-season in
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
. This paid dividends, with Burton returning to career-best form, playing as a permanent forward and playing every game up until a two-game suspension in round 10. On his return, Burton struggled for form but then produced one of his best ever first-half performances against
Collingwood in round 15, kicking four goals to give Adelaide a substantial half-time lead. At this point, however, disaster struck; in the midst of a Collingwood surge early in the third quarter, Burton's left leg jarred in the ground as he attempted to quickly change direction and he had to be taken off the ground on a mobile stretcher; this demoralized the Crows who were soundly beaten. Later that day the club revealed that Burton had torn his
ACL and required a full knee reconstruction, which would keep him out of football for 12 months. Despite playing only 12 full games, Burton was the Crows' leading goalkicker for the year with 34. His contract expired at the end of 2008 and there was plenty of speculation as to whether his career was over. However, Adelaide offered him a reduced contract for 2009, which he accepted.
2009 season
Burton made a successful return for the
Woodville-West Torrens Eagles
Woodville-West Torrens Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL). It was formed in 1990 from an amalgamation of the neighbouring Woodville and West Torrens football clu ...
in the
SANFL
The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport.
Originally formed as the ...
during round 14 of the
2009 AFL season
The 2009 AFL season was the 113th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixte ...
, kicking four goals, leading to speculation as to whether or not he would be selected for the Crows' next game against Fremantle. He was not, however, and he again played for the Eagles, being a solid contributor despite the team suffering a crushing loss to
Sturt. He was returned to the senior side the following week against
St Kilda, and while he had little impact on that game he shone in the next, kicking four goals against
Port Adelaide and cementing his spot as part of a suddenly potent forward line.
Burton continued to show patches of brilliance at times, including the huge mark against
Carlton in the last round of the season that saw him finally claim the Mark of the Year. This was intermingled with some lean patches and struggles with injury. Questions were asked over whether his time in the game was over at last; however, he has indicated that he wants to play on.
AFL Players Association (2010)
In 2010, Burton became president of the
AFL Players Association
The AFL Players Association (AFL PA, also simply known as AFL Players) is the representative body for all current and past professional Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) players.
The AFL PA promotes and protects its membe ...
, replacing
Joel Bowden
Joel Francis Bowden (born 21 June 1978) is an Australian politician, former union leader and former professional Australian rules footballer. He was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly at the 2020 Johnston by-election, repres ...
. Despite this appointment his 2010 on field performance had declined dramatically, culminating in him not being selected for
the Crows
The Crows were an American R&B singing group formed in 1951 who achieved commercial success in the 1950s. The group's first single and only hit, " Gee", released in June 1953, has been credited with being the first rock n’ roll hit by a rock ...
round 8 clash with
North Melbourne
North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at ...
, after another very poor
Showdown
A showdown is a duel. The term may also refer to:
Places
* Showdown Ski Area, in Montana, United States
Books
* ''Showdown'' (Amado novel), a 1984 novel by Jorge Amado
* ''Showdown'' (Dekker novel), a 2006 novel by Ted Dekker
* ''Showdown'' ( ...
performance and a quiet game against bottom placed
Richmond. The then retired that year.
Achievements
The following are some of the major achievements by Brett Burton.
* President of the AFL Players Association (2010)
*
Mark of the Year
The annual Australian Football League Mark of the Year competition (currently also known as the Four'N Twenty AFL Mark of the Year) is a sporting award that celebrates each season's best mark. A mark is the action of a player cleanly catchin ...
(2009)
* Adelaide Crows Leading Goal Kicker (2002 and 2008)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, Brett
Adelaide Football Club players
1978 births
Living people
Woodville-West Torrens Football Club players
Australian rules footballers from South Australia
People from Whyalla