When Ian McKeown received a phone call from long-time friend and former colleague Darren Burgess about a potential opportunity at the Crows, he was immediately intrigued.

Burgess was preparing to depart the Crows to join Italian Serie A club Juventus as Director of Performance, leaving the Adelaide Football Club’s General Manager of High Performance role vacant.

The pair had once worked together at the Crows’ crosstown rivals Port Adelaide, and after spending the past three years with NHL club, the Philadelphia Flyers, McKeown knew it was the right time to return to the AFL.

After being successful in his bid for the position and being announced as Burgess’ predecessor in September, McKeown officially took over the reins last month when the majority of the Crows squad returned for pre-season training.

Speaking to AFC Media this week, the new General Manager of High Performance said he was enjoying working at an AFL Club again.

“Footy is the best sport in the world. It’s the biggest mixture of challenges from a contact-side of things, the change of direction, the huge amount that these guys run, the skill elements - it’s such an incredible sport,” McKeown said.

“To be able to be back in this and the way that the environment is set up that me and my team have such an influence and are part of these great conversations to help these guys get even better across every element of their development is really great.

“My connection with Burgo is really strong and when he phoned me up and said there’s a very special opportunity, I obviously listened to him.

“Adelaide is home for us as well, we love it here and that was another amazing part of it. Professionally, what I knew I was stepping into, to further the great work and with how this Club looks at preparation and the organisation of the team a little bit differently to others, that was a massive pull as well.”

Originally from Northern Ireland, McKeown spent nine seasons at the Power - first as their Head of Athletic Development, before taking on the role of Head of High Performance.

He then departed Port Adelaide in 2021 to take up the role of Vice President, Athlete Performance and Wellness at the Flyers.

McKeown did, however, keep a keen eye on the AFL while living in the US, and watched Crows games when they were televised.

Although looking forward to working with every Crows player, McKeown said there were a few who had caught his eye in the early days.

“In Philadelphia, Friday night and Saturday night (AFL) games are always televised live, and it normally worked out that the last quarter was when breakfast was on,” McKeown said.

“The (Flyers) boys would sit and watch it with me and I’d try to explain the rules to them and bring them into it.

“Athletically, the first-to-four-years in the first week I was here, they were great, but Riley Thilthorpe has impressed me.

“Also seeing Dan Curtin, who is incredible in every aspect of what he’s able to do athletically, and then watching Josh Rachele’s rehab to get back to finals, to then seeing him in person and how impressive he is as an athlete, has been really cool.”

As the start of the 2026 season continues to edge closer, McKeown says his focus will be to build on the foundations Burgess and the team have put in place.

“My philosophy is that we need to continually strive to find the best ways to make these guys better footballers,” McKeown said.

“The body of work has been fantastic and the foundation is there, so now it’s about honing in, it’s about querying it, it’s about interrogating every little last element of the program and finding ways we can do it just that little bit better.

“I think one of the great things in sport is that you can’t just pinpoint numbers, those days are long gone. You don’t just bring in a program from somewhere else and put it here.

“It has to be bespoke to the organisation, to the playing group and to where they’re at, and I’m really enjoying finding out where that is.”