RENOWNED fitness guru Darren Burgess says shortening games would alleviate any concerns about adding another match to the season, with the Crows' former fitness boss advocating for a different pre-season structure to assist with injury management.

Burgess left the Crows at the end of last season to join Italian soccer giant Juventus as the club's director of performance. It marked a return to European soccer after stints previously at Liverpool and Arsenal as their head of fitness, with the Crows losing one of the weapons behind their rise up the ladder.

In a wide-ranging interview with AFL.com.au whilst he was in Australia for a short visit, the world-renowned Burgess said the AFL's discussions about extending the season by another game as part of its 2028 fixture meant there needed to be consideration for reducing game time.

"I don't think it's the match exposure by itself [that's the risk], I think it's the total season exposure. Players are asked to do a lot over a very long period of time and I don't think it's a problem playing an extra one or two matches. But if we were to adjust the length of the game slightly and then tweak the pre-season period, I think you can play more matches," he said.

"That's what everybody wants, whether that's commercial interests, fans, media. I would imagine everybody likes the thrill of the match if it's a little bit shorter and the players can get some rest in the off-season."

Whilst coaches such as Andrew McQualter and Adem Yze have raised the issue of pre-seasons not being long enough to embed game plan strategy into young groups, Burgess said there was enough time to get players fit in that period. But he is in favour of changing the structure of the pre-season so that players don't have a three-week break over Christmas and face a risky January training period, where many players were victim to injury setbacks this year.

"Once players come back in, which might only be a week or two before Christmas, they then have three weeks off, then they have compulsory four-day breaks then breaks before the season, so there's not the consistency of exposure," he said.

"I'd give them a longer off-season. But then once the pre-season starts, you're into it and you only have limited time off then. I think everyone then would be happy with the amount of exposure they get."

Burgess was the chairman of the newly formed AFL High Performance Association, which was created for fitness, strength and conditioning staff to be able to have a say on the impacts on new rules as well as the next phase of the industry.

He said he had maintained contact with many clubs' heads of performance at AFL since departing his Crows post, and shared his view on the League's stance of limiting contact training over the next pre-season, which was confirmed to club CEOs last week.

"It finds its level. There is an element of contact training that you need to harden your bodies for match exposure," he said.

Burgess also detailed what he has seen as the major differences between the Australian and international codes, what the future athlete looks like, his view on Adelaide's injury run this year and if he could see himself back at an AFL club again in a deep-dive on high performance with AFL.com.au.

'WOW, THAT'S SOMETHING YOU COULD USE IN FOOTY'

RETURNING to the soccer landscape has seen Burgess be front and centre to the emerging trends in world sport and athlete management.

He says the differences in AFL to big-time soccer leagues have been two-fold.

"From a point of view of the trends over there, and it's because of the money involved, the data and analytics is incredible. I've been away from European soccer for seven years and in that time the investment in player recruitment technology and match analysis technology has just exploded," Burgess said.

"That's probably the number one thing that I've looked at and thought 'Wow, that's something that certainly you could use in footy'.

"The stuff that we do well in footy that isn't maybe replicated as much [in soccer] is the cultural side of things. The leadership, the culture, the investment in that is fantastic in footy and it just isn't done so in a lot of elite sports, particularly European soccer."

Burgess said the nature of games every two to three days in season, as well as the different competitions and the fear of even the best managers being sacked for a poor month, meant more time was invested in tactics, analysis and training sessions than time for the culture building elements.

The other significant difference, again based on resources, was Juventus' approach to AI. He describes it as one to one hundred in terms of how AFL clubs are using AI compared to what he has seen first-hand in Europe in one of the world's biggest clubs.

"We use it a lot at Juventus. The ability to shortcut work firstly, but also to sift through reams of data and get what you want out of player management, player recruitment or whatever it is, is just phenomenal," he said.

"It's never going to replace an eye for talent, but with the amount of data it's sifting through for soccer clubs and recruitment teams, it's been a great help for us.

"If I come back to the AFL one day, then I'd like to think I can bring that sort of thing back in a more streamlined version."

KEEPING AN EYE ON THE CROWS

AFTER a strong run of fitness last year on the way to their first minor premiership, Adelaide's injury run started over the pre-season with setbacks to key players Mark Keane (broken leg) and Daniel Curtin (knee).

Callum Ah Chee's arrival at West Lakes has come with several hamstring setbacks, with Jordon Butts, Wayne Milera, Isaac Cumming and Luke Pedlar also missing recently with soft-tissue concerns, while Riley Thilthorpe has battled with a back injury at stages.

In leaving the Crows, Burgess also helped select his successor in Ian McKeown, who was Port Adelaide's former fitness manager and was previously in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Burgess compared clubs' injury runs to cricket averages – that they always find the mean.

"In cricket you might get 100, you might get 50, you might get zero but if you average 50 you can be pretty happy. I reckon at the Crows we got lucky, and did some good management last year, but they're doing the same things this year they've just been a bit unlucky with a few injuries," he said.

"It always comes back to the mean and that's perhaps what's happened. I reckon they're coming good at the right time and you never know how much having some of their key players having two or three weeks off during the season will freshen them up for a run at the finals."

THE RESTING DEBATE

ON THE topic of being fresh, have the rotations required for a full season with Juventus given Burgess a different view on whether AFL players will soon become managed more often to get through a season?

Fremantle is two wins clear on top of the ladder – and three-and-a-half wins ahead of third place – so will soon have the ability to manage its roster ahead of the finals.

Burgess has seen soccer clubs be more willing to pick and choose when to rotate their teams and players for significant games, and he is in favour of it becoming more common in the AFL.

"I would hope so. I think it's really important. You hear coaches in pressers say, 'We just looked a bit flat and we didn't look quite right', so I'm sure it's happening at a very detailed level at every footy club," he said.

"But I would hope the importance placed on player freshness, and that can come both mentally and physically, is given the right credence.

"Fremantle might be in a position if they win their next few games to do that. You've got to be careful that there's a rhythm of match exposure that the human body likes. But with certain guys with injury history and age groups, I think it's really important to manage appropriately. And with Freo's flight exposure that's important as well."

'THE JORDAN DAWSON OF JUVENTUS'

THE FUTURE footballer will be quicker. They might be taller. They might be able to kick longer and run better. But the edge Burgess sees with the next generation of player – say the AFL star of 2035 – lies off the field.

Burgess said it was all about the mindset of the superstar.  

"The two things that stand out most about the really good players is one, their curiosity to get better. The amount of times the Crows boys would message me saying 'I've just seen LeBron James do this' or 'I've seen this player with this bit of technology' or 'I've read about this, been listening to this podcast', and I think that's going to be even more important," he said.

"The other thing that's enormous is the ability to switch off and be as holistic a human as you can be.

"I'm thoroughly convinced that helps in performance and particularly in decision making. Because if you do have a clouded mind from all the meetings and messages and you don't have any ability at all to switch off, your ability to perform in game day is going to be cluttered. That's going to be really important going forward.

"Say if I'm talking to the Jordan Dawson of Juventus. I'm also talking to his agents, his parents, his personal physio, his personal physician. So you can imagine the amount of cluttering that goes on inside those players' heads."

The nature of an AFL list having around 45 players means that personalising training programs has been a challenge for high performance staff. Burgess said the reality of players having their own support teams – both for conditioning and also outside matters – would likely become a reality for the AFL.

"When the soft cap came into the AFL, it forced departments to be a lot leaner and the high performance and physio and nutrition departments got slashed a lot. Without the resources, it's very hard to individualise," he said.

"I think more and more players are going to look outside as well to personal coaches in those realms, because that's what's happened in basketball and baseball and NFL and certainly soccer. I think they're going to get their individual programs and clubs are going to have to work with external providers."

AN AFL RETURN?

BURGESS has had stints at Port Adelaide, Melbourne (where he led their fitness department in its 2021 premiership win) and Adelaide, and hasn't ruled out a return to the AFL system.

"I certainly could see myself coming back, but life's pretty short, you have to go and have these adventures and you never know where it takes you," he said.

"Professional sport is a pretty demanding and cut-throat business, so you just never know where the path might take you. I absolutely love footy. I loved my time there, so I'd never say no."

Essendon also pursued Burgess strongly last year as the Bombers chased a new high performance boss, but he had the Juventus role in the pipeline. Mat Inness, who ended up leaving West Coast to join the Bombers, has replaced Burgess as the chairman of the AFL High Performance Association.

Burgess has kept in touch with Crows players and caught up with many last week whilst in Adelaide, while his new role also saw a Swans star stay at his house earlier this year.

"I'm obviously very close with Simon Goodwin and he sent me a message saying 'Any chance you can do me a favour?' I had no idea what it was, but Errol Gulden hurt his shoulder and he's a mad soccer fan," Burgess said.

"I'd never met him but he came over and stayed with us for a couple of nights and now I've got a friend for life.

"He's got Turkish heritage, so he got together with Kenan Yildiz, who is our superstar, so things like that have been great."