Rooster Ryan Burton’s AFL dream remains alive despite a horrific leg injury
THE first thing Ryan Burton heard was the crack and then there was excruciating pain.
North Adelaide
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THE first thing Ryan Burton heard was the crack.
Then there was the excruciating pain.
As the emerging North Adelaide star’s left leg jammed into the turf at Sacred Heart College after he landed heavily from a marking contest and his 192cm body “flipped’’ backwards because of the powerful jolt, the pain hit him like a sledgehammer.
First there was the pain of injury, then the pain of despair.
“The pain in the leg was bad but the most pain came from looking at my leg and realising what I had done, how serious the injury was,’’ key forward Burton said of the horrific injury which has robbed him of football since August 24 last year.
“I knew I was pretty stuffed straight away and that my dreams might have been shattered then and there.
“I remember rolling around on the ground punching the turf and swearing because I was really angry at what had happened.
“Ever since I can remember all I’ve ever wanted to do is play in the AFL and it went through my mind that this injury could cost me that chance.’’
Having not played any football for 10 months, Burton is SA’s forgotten draft jewel.
This time last year he was the Croweaters’ hottest 2015 draft prospect.
At age 17 he had played four league games for the Roosters, joining the goal-with-first-kick club, and dominated an under-18 national championship game for SA against WA, booting five goals and hauling in 10 strong marks.
AFL scouts gushed at his performance against the Sandgropers at AAMI Stadium, with SA coach Brenton Phillips immediately declaring “you would think he would be a first-rounder in 2015’’.
But as Burton was stretchered from the field in the annual college exchange match against Victoria’s Assumption College he thought his AFL career might have been over before it had begun.
Burton’s left knee appeared mangled after he crashed to the turf from a great height after he was unintentionally lifted up by an opponent while attempting to take a pack mark.
The ball had been kicked in by teammate Keenan Ramsey, who is now at the Crows, and while Burton grasped the ball in both hands he lost it as his leg fully hyperextended on landing, forcing him into a backflip.
His knee cap had “fallen out of place’’ and he initially feared he had torn his anterior cruciate ligament.
Scans revealed Burton’s ACL was intact but that he had sustained a tibial plateau fracture.
The break to one of the most critical load-bearing areas in the human body, just below the knee, affects knee alignment, stability and motion.
It was repaired by former Crows midfielder and acclaimed orthopedic surgeon Matthew Liptak, who inserted a metal plate and 10 screws into Burton’s leg to hold it together.
Burton also suffered knee ligament and joint damage, such was the force with which he landed in what was to be his final school game.
He has a 20cm scar running down the outside of his knee towards the shin as a stark reminder of how badly his leg was damaged.
But his draft hopes are not over.
They are, in fact, very much alive.
The son of dual Roosters premiership midfielder/forward Craig Burton is in the final stages of his long and arduous rehabilitation — lengthened by patella tendinitis — and hopes to be back playing before the end of the season.
Burton has likely lost his mantle as the first South Australian to be picked at this year’s draft, with that honour expected to fall to gun Bloods utility Aaron Francis.
But he remains in line to be a first-round pick and could still go in the top 10.
“I’m hoping clubs look at what I did in my 17th year, rather than my 18th,’’ Burton said.
“Hopefully there is a good body of work there for them to make a judgment call on me.’’
A member of the AIS-AFL Academy squad, Burton has had three screws removed from his rebuilt leg but the other seven and plate will remain embedded forever.
Clubs will scrutinise Burton’s medical scans before the draft but he is confident his leg will not hinder his development.
“The leg is coming along really well and I’ve got total confidence in it standing up to the rigours of the AFL,’’ he said.
“In some aspects it will probably be stronger than it was before the injury. It’s been a long road back for me but finally I can see some light at the end of the tunnel.’’
OVERCOMING ADVERSITY
JOEL SELWOOD
Club: Geelong.
Drafted: No. 7 in 2006 from Bendigo U18s.
Injury: Had two knee surgeries in 2006.
What was said: “Our medical staff said not to take him.’’ - former North Melbourne recruiting boss Neville Stibbard.
JAKE STRINGER
Club: Western Bulldogs.
Drafted: No. 5 in 2012 from Bendigo U18s.
Injury: Broke the tibia and fibula in his left leg in 2011.
What was said: “He had a bad injury but it was a fixable problem.’’ - Bulldogs recruiting manager Simon Dalrymple.
TROY MENZEL
Club: Carlton.
Drafted: No. 11 in 2012 from Central District.
Injury: Knee reconstruction (LARS surgery) in 2011, strained posterior cruciate ligament 2012.
What was said: “Scans on his knees would have been the most viewed in Australia,’’ SA under-18 coach Brenton Phillips.
JAKE LEVER
Club: Adelaide.
Drafted: No. 14 in 2014 from Calder U18s.
Injury: Ruptured anterior cruciate ligament requiring a knee reconstruction.
What was said: “We did all the due diligence through the medical checks and the screenings at the draft combine and we were very comfortable with where his fitness was at,’’ Crows head of football David Noble.
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