This Sunday will mark six months since High Performance Manager Darren Burgess joined the Adelaide Football Club.

And the highly-regarded industry professional has no doubts about how special the side can be.

Speaking on the first Crows Show episode of 2022, Burgess said there had been plenty of players who had impressed him and he was pleased with how hard each squad member was working.

“The guys who have impressed? From the experienced players, guys like Rory Laird who really know what it takes to be professional,” Burgess said.

“His dedication to his craft is really impressive. 

“Guys like Ned McHenry who never stop working and Riley Thilthorpe - for such a young kid his dedication - often I try to hold Riley back a bit.

“But honestly the playing group has been unbelievable. 

“Their work ethic, their capacity for work is really exceptional and a credit to the previous fitness staff.”

Burgess’ role is to ensure the players are fit and strong enough to match it with the best in the AFL competition which he believes will be a step toward the Club’s ultimate goal of winning a Premiership.

“What attracted me to working at the Crows was the opportunity to help develop a young list,” Burgess said

“We have a pretty young coaching group as well and to work with Nicksy again but predominantly to develop a young list and see through a journey to achieving the ultimate success.

“Our benchmarks are typically win/loss. We are all here on the same path, we all want to win games.

“Although we look at injury rate and GPS metrics in games and things like that, predominantly no one cares if you run more if you lose, so we are all about wins here.”