PART TWO

THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2015

RYAN Burton had two ice packs on his left knee and one strapped to each calf.

It was two weeks ago, and he was sitting on the floor of North Adelaide's rooms. Burton had completed his first training session in nearly 11 months, and his body was aching. He was only expecting to do the warm-up. But he stayed with the main group, and although he didn't participate in any contact drills, he did everything else. 

Afterwards, Burton was sore but beaming. "I forgot I had a bad knee," he says. "I was too focused on actually marking the ball and kicking it. After that I'd jog a bit and go, 'Oh yeah, there's something wrong with my leg, isn't there?'" 

There is, but it’s improving. Burton still hasn't played since his injury last year, having failed to reach his target of playing in the championships for South Australia. His chances were dashed after the Academy camp in April, when he developed patella tendonpathy from stress.

By the time he got back to his full rehabilitation program after the initial injury, he was about six weeks behind schedule in his bid to return this year.

He started running short distances at the start of June. One night he did three sets of six 30-metre sprints, and he repeated that every session for two weeks. He gradually upped the ante and a few weeks later he completed the warm-up with North Adelaide.

"I haven't been able to do anything with the boys for 10 months, so even doing the warm-up, having them yelling my name, and getting a high-five after a drill was great," he says.

He then spent a week in Melbourne, attended the Academy's closing event and did more training.

"The night I got back from Melbourne was when I did the full session. I was only running at about 70 per cent, but I knew my leg was going to be fine." 

No SA action

Burton's heavy training load at North meant he spent little time with South Australia's under-18 team during the carnival. He approached state coach Brenton Phillips before the championships started and asked if there was anything he could do as a part-time forward coach, but Phillips said they were all covered. 

He suggested Burton attend training when he could, but that would have meant a half-hour drive to AAMI Stadium, where there's no longer a gym. It was better for him to stick with the Roosters. He watched the three South Australia games played in Adelaide and popped into the rooms beforehand, but he felt detached from the team.

"I didn't feel left out, but I wasn't really one of the players," he says. "I could've helped."

He might be able to help North Adelaide. The Roosters are yet to win a senior game since round one, coach Ken McGregor was recently axed, and morale is low.

North hasn't always been Burton's home team. He crossed there in the under-16s, after playing for local club Glenelg. He grew up barracking for Glenelg and used to get a buzz from seeing SANFL players at the shops down the street. At Glenelg games, he'd stand behind the goals with other kids and fight for the ball after a set-shot.

He planned to stay with Glenelg, but decided on a move after his under-15s season, when his football started to clash with his surf lifesaving. That summer he was at the beach every night: paddling, swimming, ski paddling, running and keeping fit. But it meant he missed a pre-season trial game for the under-16s, so his coach at the time dropped him back to the under-15s team.

The setback was disappointing, as he had got some credits in the bank as South Australia's under-12s state captain. He had a meeting with North Adelaide about moving there under the SANFL father-son rule, but the club was half an hour away and he barely knew anyone there.

Ryan Burton has been a regular in SA's under-age state teams. Picture: Supplied

He left the meeting thinking he would probably stay at Glenelg. But Burton gave it further consideration, and believed the North challenge would be good for him. This year, his first since finishing school, he has spent plenty of time in his car, driving back and forth to the club, and to work. He has taken a gap year, but is coaching sport in schools, and is also the coach of a local under-nine footy team. He has a few ball-hogs in the team; they remind him of how he played at the same age.

Clubs come calling

Recently, more AFL clubs have been checking in on Burton's progress. Yesterday West Coast sent recruiters around, Hawthorn was over earlier in the week, and Collingwood has already dropped in. Next week the Western Bulldogs and North Melbourne will visit, while others are organising interviews. Clubs generally ask about his footy, where he sees himself playing, and then start talking about his injury. 

Burton is one of the draft's biggest mysteries, and he knows it. Clubs have limited records of his fitness assessments – they have to trust his recollections of his best 20-metre sprint and beep test times. However, he has seen Jake Stringer overcome a badly broken leg to star at AFL level, and last year Jake Lever sat out his full draft year and was still a first-round pick. Many recruiters have told Burton not to worry about playing at all this year, but they will flock to the games if he does return.

"They'll have to charter a plane to get us all there," one recruiter said.

"He's going to be really difficult for us to rank if he doesn't play at all. He's going to live and die by the medicos at each club, depending how bad they think the injury is.

“Last year we spoke about him as the No. 1 draft pick, but now it might be a roll of the dice for clubs and which is prepared to call his name. He has an asterisk at the moment on our board."

Another scout said there was no point him playing late this year.

"People will say, 'Jeez, he's got a limp and his running's no good'. And do you really want that in your head? Some would put a cross against him.

"He's interesting because talent-wise he's as good as anyone," the recruiter said.

"A lot will depend on what our doc says, but you can't have enough talented, smart footballers and he's certainly that."

Burton has had to contemplate football mortality before playing an AFL game. Picture: AFL Media

Burton's increased training efforts have him happy, but he's not getting over-excited. He's pulling up sorer than he had hoped after training sessions, and he's still six weeks away from contact training. When he gets to that point, he'll need another four weeks of doing everything before being ready to play.

North's senior team has struggled, but its reserves and under-18s will make the finals, and he could go straight in. Perhaps.

"I try to picture myself playing, but then I think, 'But what happens if I land badly? I'm not ready for that'. 

"I can definitely see myself getting close to a return, but on the other hand I've still got a few things to tick off before I get to that point," he says.

"A lot of boys say they just want the next four or five months to go quickly. In some ways, I do too, to put me out of my misery. But I also want all that time to get myself right and squeeze in a couple of games."

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2015 

More prodding and poking

A DOCTOR and physiotherapist from every AFL club sat in a ring around a medical bench at Etihad Stadium during the NAB AFL Draft Combine.

Ryan Burton was called up for his medical assessment. A few doctors got up straight away and moseyed towards the South Australian. Then the remaining officials left their seats and walked up to Burton, who very quickly had nearly 35 people crowded around him.

Michael Makdissi, the Hawthorn doctor who also works with the AFL Academy, told Burton to hop on the bed. "Why?" Burton asked with a smile. "There's nothing wrong with me!"

Burton's inability to play at all in 2015 after his serious leg injury last year meant more emphasis was placed on his efforts at the combine, including perhaps his biggest test: passing the medical.

North Melbourne's doctor, Peter Baquie, pulled and stretched the leg and relayed what he felt back to the other doctors. A few others chimed in with questions, asking Burton about the lack of cartilage in the knee, which is the biggest concern clubs hold about his future.

Scar tissue can develop to play the role of the cartilage, but doctors can't predict if or when the impact of the injury might be a factor in Burton's career. He hopped on the leg, crouched down on it and stood up straight. The 18-year-old didn't enjoy the 15 minutes under the microscope, but understood the reasons he needed to be checked so thoroughly. And he was relieved a large group was interested. 

"If I only had a few people come up I'd have been a little bit worried. But having every team get up to see me in the medical made me think I'm at least on the radar for a lot of clubs," he says.

"I felt like a piece of meat, but a lot of people saw it as my biggest test of the week. The doctors are the ones who are going to tell the recruiters if I'm fine or not, so I was pretty nervous about it."

A bigger, stronger frame has been one of the positives from Burton's layoff. Picture: AFL Media

Burton gave up on his goal of playing this season in early September. He had been in full training since August, but had not been able to progress to competitive drills with his teammates at North Adelaide. 

He still ices the knee most days and goes to the beach whenever he can. He was tempted to push into North Adelaide's reserves team for the finals, but felt it wouldn't have been right to take the spot of a player who had been in all year.

Although he targeted playing in the mid-year championships for South Australia, and then for North Adelaide after that, he doesn't feel like those aims were unrealistic. Burton says there was always a thought in the back of his mind he wouldn't play at all in 2015.

"In August I set myself to play the last couple of games and then the All-Stars game on Grand Final day for the Allies side," he says.

"But I noticed on the track that I wasn't ready. I can run out training really well, but it was touch-and-go whether I was ready by the end of the season so it wasn't worth the risk."

He was disappointed. Many people had told him across the year that he shouldn't – or wouldn’t – play at all in 2015, so he was determined to prove them wrong. At least he knew he was close.

He saw his surgeon Matthew Liptak for the first time in three months in September and Liptak indicated he wouldn't need to come back. Thirteen months earlier, Liptak had warned Burton there was a chance he wouldn't be able to run again after piecing together his shattered leg.

Putting his leg to the test

After ruling himself out of playing the last few games, Burton set his mind to competing in the athletic testing at the combine. He spent time training at Port Adelaide and Adelaide through the NAB AFL Academy, and at the combine, he was able to participate in all events bar the beep test (there was some concern about the impact of the hard floor on his leg). 

For some recruiters, seeing Burton run freely was one of the highlights of the combine. He tested solidly, logging 3.09 seconds for the 20-metre sprint and 25.69 for the repeat sprints. He finished the 3-km time trial in 11:52 minutes. Given his circumstances, it was a good effort. Most importantly, he didn't limp around. After 14 months out, he looked like an athlete again.

"I showed my knee's not an issue," he says. "I didn't test at my best but the fact that I tested with my knee feeling 100 per cent the whole time made me walk away pretty happy.

"I was nervous about how I'd pull up, because it was a busy four days, especially on the hard floorboards. But it must be a lot stronger than I thought because it felt fine every morning and at the end of the week I had no concerns with it."

Burton in full flight during the sprint testing at the NAB AFL Draft Combine. Picture: AFL Media

Burton met with 15 clubs at the combine, the Western Bulldogs, Adelaide and Port Adelaide the only ones who didn't organise a chat. The Crows and Power said they would catch him in Adelaide closer to the draft.

Burton's emotions about the draft have swung dramatically throughout the year. At the start of the season he believed he would be picked up, despite the injury. But he also thought then that he would be able to play half of the year.

As the injury lingered and his rehab dragged on, his doubts grew. But in the back half of the year a number of clubs visited, their interest filling him with more enthusiasm. The chats at the combine provided further confidence that he'll be picked, with many clubs talking about him as a possible top-20 selection.

He has lived in South Australia his whole life but would be fine with moving.

"I'd like to go to Melbourne, it's the home of footy," he says.

"But a while ago I got over where I might get picked or by who. I used to care about that but I don't any more. I just want it to happen."

Burton will learn his fate in a few weeks, with the draft at Adelaide Convention Centre on November 24. He knows some clubs might see him as a risky pick, and they have some concerns about his knee. He also understands some might only choose him as an early selection if they have more than one pick near the top of the draft.

Burton's challenges since August last year have made him a unique draft prospect, but his belief in his ability has not waned.

"I hope to play round one next year. That's what I'm aiming for. I'll do everything I can to be ready for then," Burton says.

"I've forgotten what it feels like to step on to a ground and play a game, and by the start of next season I would have been out for about 20 months. I can't put it into words what it will feel like.

"I don't know how I'm going to keep my mind off the draft until it happens. When I go to bed I think about the draft, my mates want to talk about it, mum and dad want to talk about it,” he says.

"It's been such a tough year. I just hope it ends in a happy way."