The high-flying forward booted 41 goals in 16 games in 2006, but endured a miserable 2007 after injuring his ‘good’ right knee in the round one clash with Essendon.
Now, the crowd favourite is hopeful he can recapture his career-best form by completing his first full pre-season in more than five years.
“Today was actually the first day that I’ve missed a session all summer,” Burton said on Wednesday.
“It’s been really good so far and today I just had a bit of a lighter session because of some general soreness. I’ve been really happy with how I’ve been going and it’s probably the most sessions I’ve done during a pre-season for five or six years.
“This off-season was also the first in about six years that I didn’t require an operation and that means I was able to start doing a lot of work during the break to prepare my body for the pre-season.”
“Birdman is getting a bit older,” he laughed.
“You see over time with any player that if you can get a good pre-season under your belt, it certainly helps you to get through the season. Fingers crossed my injuries will be all right.”
The Birdman played 18 games last season, albeit with his wings clipped.
“There probably were times last season I played when I probably shouldn’t have, but at the time we had a lot of injuries and it was a decision made between myself and the club that it was still worthwhile me staying out there,” he said.
“While I couldn’t perform at 100 per cent I was still at a level that the coach was happy with, but it was certainly frustrating for all parties.”
The 29-year-old was confined to Adelaide’s forward 50m, unable to cover the long distances required on the wing and across half-forward.
Last week Burton pushed Nathan van Berlo and new running machine Ed Curnow in the club’s 3km time trial, but he’s confident his place will again be in the Crows’ forward line.
“We’ve lost Scott Welsh and Ricciuto out of that attack, so I’ll probably spend a bit more time in the forward line this year,” Burton said.
“We’ve obviously got a younger group, so we’ll have a few new faces in there, but we’ll also look to rotate a few of the midfielders there like Goodwin, Edwards and maybe even McLeod. It will be a whole mix of faces up there.”
Goodwin impressed across half-forward during Wednesday’s three-hour training session, while David Mackay took a step towards taking the skipper’s spot in the midfield with a strong display.
Trent Hentschel suffered a “minor setback” last week and didn’t train with the main group, but is expected to be fit to resume next week.
Fellow comeback kid Rhett Biglands was put through his paces on the bike, as were Greg Gallman and Luke Jericho (bruised heel).
The squad are in the middle of a “hard phase” of training after a relaxing end to last week.
“We all went to my family place in Morgan in the Riverland for two days,” Burton said.
“We took the training program up there so we didn’t compromise training. We still did the sessions, but it was just a good opportunity to get away to a different venue.
“Obviously the pre-season is a hard slog, so to get away with all the players and coaches and play a bit of cricket by the water was nice.”
