Victorian Football League
The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...
South Australian National Football League
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 t ...
(SANFL).
Playing career
Burgess, who started his SANFL career in 1980, was a full-back in West Adelaide's 1983 premiership team. Going into the Grand Final battling a hamstring injury, coach
Neil Kerley
Donald Neil Kerley (20 February 1934 – 29 June 2022) was an Australian rules footballer and coach. He is best known for taking three clubs to four South Australian National Football League (SANFL) premierships over three decades as both a p ...
assigned Burgess had the task of playing on Sturt's champion full-forward
Rick Davies
Richard Davies (born 22 July 1944) is an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as founder, vocalist and keyboardist of the rock band Supertramp. Davies was its only constant member, and composed some of the band's best known songs ...
who was sitting on 149 goals for the season. In West Adelaide's two minor round games against Sturt in 1983, Kerley had tried Peter Winter on the man the called the "Jumbo Prince", and he had kicked 15 goals. Burgess managed to restrict Davies to two goals in the Grand Final at
Football Park
Football Park, known commercially as AAMI Stadium, was an Australian rules football stadium located in West Lakes, a western suburb of Adelaide, the state capital of South Australia, Australia. It was built in 1973 by the South Australian Na ...
. With Davies regarded as Sturt's main danger, Burgess' effort on him played a large role in the Bloods' 34 point win, though he largely credits West Adelaide's backline for restricting Sturt and Davies and plays down his own roll on the day.
During 1983, Burgess actually moved from Adelaide to Melbourne and trained with the Sydney Swans when they were in Melbourne before flying to Adelaide to take his place for West Adelaide.
After West Adelaide missed the finals in 1984, Burgess signed with Collingwood to play in the VFL.
Burgess made 21 VFL appearances for Collingwood; nine in
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
and 12 in
1986
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
**Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles.
**Spain and Portugal enter ...
. At the end of the 1986 season, Burgess was one of the three players that Collingwood offered to the
Brisbane Bears
The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/ ...
, as each club had to, but he instead returned to West Adelaide.
Burgess went on to play for West Adelaide until the end of the 1993 SANFL season, retiring after playing 185 senior games for the club.
Coaching
Burgess coached the West Adelaide under-19s to a premiership in 2002, after what had been a tough year for the club, which had lost player Jake Watson (the son of Burgess' 1983 premiership winning team mate Larry Watson), who died after collapsing on the field during a match.
He next joined Glenelg's coaching panel and towards the end of the 2005 season was the caretaker senior coach, following the sacking of Peter Simmons.'' The Advertiser'', "Bays give Simmons the sack", 4 August 2005, Andrew Capel
At