AFL news 2021: New Crows fitness boss Darren Burgess reveals his thoughts on a number of Adelaide players

The long road back for Taylor Walker includes an extended pre-season and the 13-year veteran is leading the way as he burns up the training track.

New Adelaide fitness boss Darren Burgess has made increasing training intensity a pre-season priority as he tries to build mental resilience and help the club climb the ladder.

Fresh off being part of Melbourne’s 57-year premiership drought, Burgess was pleasantly surprised by Crows players’ fitness levels when he arrived at last season’s 15th-ranked side in early November, saying they were right up there with any group he had worked with from a running perspective.

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But he quickly had to address the occasional drop in vigour on the track in his first week.

“The intensity of the sessions is something that I’m really big on,” Burgess said.

“I reckon that was something that maybe the first couple of sessions wasn’t there and that’s something that we’ve really addressed.

“You can’t take a drill off and that’s probably been my main message to the players.

“I reckon the boys have noticed that change.”

New Adelaide Crows fitness boss Darren Burgess is settling in well. Picture: Adelaide Football Club

Burgess said the most successful programs were player-driven and the Demons’ rise from ninth place in his first season in 2020 to a flag was spurred on by the club’s leaders.

“The players really took the program, took the standards and even the intensity of training – the leadership group there was a really well-educated group and knew their group really well – and we obviously saw the results,” he said.

“I’m looking at the same output here from the leaders.”

Several Crows players have already spoken about Burgess bringing an element of surprise to pre-season, often not knowing how long to run for or what was in store next.

“I think mental resilience is a really important thing for players,” he said.

“Any way we can try and develop that through surprise sessions and taking them out of their comfort zone and making them uncomfortable, making them able to live in that discomfort a little bit is certainly something that I think will help them long-term.

“The last couple of years what we know is that everything changes and so if we can prepare them in any small way for that …

“I’m assuming this season isn’t going to go according to plan with anything from Covid to results to whatever.”

Burgess imparts some wisdom to Crow Luke Pedlar. Picture: Adelaide Football Club

Burgess was well known for trying to build resilience by using heat training on visits to Dubai during his time at cross-town rival Port Adelaide.

He said those types of trips were long gone because of Covid and the tightening of the AFL’s soft cap, but the Crows would spend plenty of time in the sun this summer.

“Fortunately we’ve got pretty good conditions here for that sort of training,” he said.

Burgess, who also led fitness programs at English Premier League giants Liverpool and Arsenal, as well as the Socceroos, ranked the Demons’ premiership highly.

“Because of the year we had prior to that, being up in the hub for 100-odd days or whatever it was and being stopped for three months, the hardship that Melbourne as a city went through, it really was up there for me in terms of career and personal,” he said.

“I had good relationships with the players and one of my best mates, (Melbourne forward coach) Greg Stafford, is over there, so to share that with him was good, was exciting.

“Hopefully looking forward to doing the same thing here.”

Burgess said Adelaide’s Christmas program would be very football specific given its internal trial was only four weeks after training resumed next year.

New Crows fitness boss Darren Burgess has been impressed with Taylor Walker and Reilly O'Brien.

Rating the Crows

Adelaide’s new fitness boss Darren Burgess gives his take on how eight key Crows are tracking heading into 2022.

■ Wayne Milera: “He’s been out for two years. I wouldn’t want to put any sort of limits on him but I remember being here (in Adelaide) when he was drafted and seeing his early football and it was phenomenal. We’re looking forward to having him back on track. I don’t think the expectations will be too much on him while he’s finding his feet again but we’ve certainly got high hopes he can get back to the level he was three years ago”.

■ Taylor Walker: “He’s obviously going to have a longer pre-season than a lot of guys but he’s attacked everything with the intensity and purpose of what you’d expect from someone like him. He really is leading from the front in training and certainly looks in good condition”.

■ Fischer McAsey: “He was training really well, did everything that we asked of him. I think when he was 17 he had a stress fracture in his femur and it’s just come back. We only expect him to miss two weeks off legs then he’ll be back running again. It’s an integrated program and we’ll just have to be a bit careful of his loads going forward because he’s clearly got a history there. But he’s fine. I’d be stunned if he missed any pre-season games or anything like that.”

■ Matt Crouch: “Missing a year of football, you’re probably more conservative (with him) than what you might otherwise be. We expect him to be training with the group sometime late January, early Feb, then progress from there. He’s on target, for sure, but he has missed a year of footy so we have to be a bit conservative”.

■ Riley Thilthorpe: “He’s one of the ones that excite you as a fitness coach. He does everything you ask, asks a lot of questions. We probably have to remember he’s 19 and has still got some growing and learning to do. So far his running power is unbelievable for his size it’s as good as I’ve seen”.

For Burgess, Riley Thilthorpe has been the Crows’ biggest surprise packet. Picture: AFL Photos/Getty Images

■ Reilly O’Brien: “He’s incredible. You’ve heard stories from the staff and that but he just doesn’t miss a session and doesn’t miss a beat. Even at times when I’ve said to him ‘just take this session off or miss this drill’, he’s just like ‘nah, I’m fine, I’m fine’. He’s got good running power and we knew that from last year. Max Gawn used to say that he can run around pretty well and keep up with Max, and Max is an outstanding runner”.

■ Josh Rachele: “He looks like a real natural talent. For me, that’s an exciting person to get to work with. I’m sure he’s got heaps to learn in terms of the intensity and running power you need to play AFL, but certainly from a talent point of view, in days like this and the handball games, he looks outstanding”.

■ Jackson Hately: “He’s not missed, he looks great, looks in really good physical condition. I believe he can play a number of positions, so I think he’s in for a really good year based on what we’ve seen pre-Christmas”.

■ Darcy Fogarty: “He’s done everything that we’ve asked of him and more. He’s all set I’m sure to attack the second part of pre-season like he has the first part. Hopefully good results will follow that”.

■ Biggest surprise: “Thilthorpe’s running – that’s something I didn’t know that he could run that well. For someone his size and his weight, that’s pretty rare. Seeing guys like Thilthorpe and Jacko (Luke Jackson) at the Dees run that well at that height, I get excited by that”.

Originally published as AFL news 2021: New Crows fitness boss Darren Burgess reveals his thoughts on a number of Adelaide players