Birdman finds his feet with Lions

Fitness coach Brett Burton, right with Brisbane Lions champion Jonathan Brown. Picture: Bruce Long. Source: The Courier-Mail

BRETT Burton has several double billings today. But he is very clear on where he stands with each conflicting agenda.

Burton played 177 AFL games with the Adelaide Football Club in 12 seasons after being drafted at the end of 1998 with an instant comparison - because of his terrific leap at marking contests - to Crows hero Tony Modra.

But tonight at the Gabba, as Brisbane's physical performance manager, Burton has to see the Crows as the enemy.

He also is on the AFL Laws of the Game committee carrying the voice from clubland.

Yet, Burton notes the responsibility of the appointment demands his vision go far beyond a match committee room at an AFL club.

And he is one of the new-age fitness gurus at AFL clubs  ...  at a time when the tag of "sports scientist" is not as fashionable or as accepted as when Neil Craig made it his calling card at West Lakes during the Crows' 1997-98 premiership double.

Burton is very clear on his role at the Lions - and how no sports fitness program must ever over-ride the medical experts, a point of concern for the AFL and those trying to piece together what happened at Essendon last year.

"I have the responsibility to make the final call," says Burton. "But I would never override the team doctor."

It is three years since Burton, dubbed "The Birdman", last flew for the Crows. Even before that last game - a win against Richmond at AAMI Stadium on May 9, 2010 - it was clear Burton would stay in sport, guiding teams in their physical preparation.

He had set himself on that path while overcoming serious knee injuries and many thought it would be at Adelaide, particularly when he set up business in the new public gym at the Crows' mega-facility at West Lakes.

Destiny put Burton in a double spin during that summer of 2010.

He was headed to Melbourne to take up a fitness job in rugby. At the same time former Crows football operations chief John Reid was completing his review at the underperforming Lions - and recommending Brisbane look at Burton for its new fitness program.

"I was happy to stay in the AFL - it is what I knew," says Burton. "It would have been a challenge to go into a different field, but I'm happy I chose to stay in the AFL."

Brisbane allowed - actually it needed - Burton to rebuild a program that had inevitably fallen behind after being part of a pacesetting unit from 2000 to 2004.

Coach Michael Voss had been left with too much to do, a common curse of AFL clubs working to limited resources in small or non-traditional markets.

"Reidy's review highlighted how things had fallen off and how Vossy did not have the resources around him, to the point he was doing far more than other senior AFL coaches were being asked," says Burton.

"John's review allowed a new framework to be put around Vossy and the football program here - it put this club back on a level playing field.

"Once that was done, it wasn't going to take long to turn things around," adds Burton, whose Lions won their first pre-season NAB Cup last month.

"That's because the playing group was prepared to work hard.

"John's review just reinforced what this group could do if we put the right program and people in place around Vossy."

That program allowed Brisbane to trip up the Crows late last year when the clubs last met at the Gabba. The difficult emotional separation from being a Crow to becoming a Lion has turned easier for Burton.

"In the first year it was funny to deal with," he says.

"In 2011, 90 per cent of the squad was from the team I played with the year before. It has changed much more today.

"Adelaide always will be my club. I spent such a long time there that it became such a big part of my life.

"It will always command a soft spot for me, but today - while I am with Brisbane - I see Adelaide as another team.

"It is no different to the other 17 AFL clubs we compete against."

Burton, like every other fitness guru in the AFL, is charged with making the Lions players physically capable of fulfilling Voss' gameplan to win matches.

This forces him to be at the cutting edge of "sports science" while keeping within the boundaries of "ethical practices".

It is one of the hottest topics in Australian sport today, particularly after the Australian Crime Commission brought into question so many innocent sporting programs.

"What is a sports scientist?" says Burton of the job description most tainted in Australian sport today.

The AFL also had a fair hit on the role last year when league boss Andrew Demetriou questioned if "sports scientists" were having too much to say at AFL clubs.

"A lot of job descriptions in Australian sport have been bundled into 'sports scientist' label today - and that is naive," says Burton.

"We have one sports-science co-ordinator in our team of 11 people in the Brisbane program. (Carlton coach) Michael Malthouse will speak so highly of sports scientists because they are very important in the preparation of a sporting team and for keeping a team innovative in its approach to physical preparation.

"Those on the outside looking in are commenting on a minority situation where, yes, some clubs have allowed some people to get carried away with their ego and take control of a program. But it is a minority."

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