Ryan Burton


Ryan Burton is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League.

Early career

Ryan Burton made his debut for North Adelaide in the SANFL as a 17-year-old. He played four senior games. He was still young enough to play in the 2014 NAB AFL Under-18 Championships. He kicked five goals in a game for South Australia against Western Australia.
Late 2014 Burton broke his leg while playing football in an interschool match. He required surgery for the injury, resulting in orthopedic surgeon Matthew Liptak, a former Adelaide Crows player, inserting a metal plate and 10 screws into his leg. Burton spent 2015 in rehabilitation. Before he broke his leg, Burton was the state's hottest 2015 draft prospect.

AFL career

He was drafted by the Hawthorn Football Club with their first selection and nineteenth overall in the 2015 national draft.
He played two games early for Box Hill before having an operation to remove the screws and plate in his leg. He came back to play two more Games for Box Hill before getting a call up to play for.
He made his debut in round 21, 2016. He kicked a goal with his very first kick.
Burton played four games in a row but he suffered a calf injury during the 2016 Qualifying Final versus the Geelong Cats, and his season ended there.
Entering into his second season, Burton changed from number 35 to the number 5 guernsey following Sam Mitchell’s move to West Coast at the end of the 2016 season.
He earned a Rising Star nomination in round 2, 2017, in a 24 point loss to Adelaide at the MCG, with 26 possessions, nine marks and four tackles.
On July 17, 2017, it was announced that Burton had signed a three-year contract extension to stay at Hawthorn until the end of 2020.
At the conclusion of the 2018 season, however, it emerged that Hawthorn were seeking to trade Burton to in order to facilitate the arrival of Chad Wingard. Burton was officially traded to the Port Adelaide on 17 October.

Family

Burton is the son of dual North Adelaide premiership player Craig Burton.

Statistics

! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2016
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2017
! scope="row" style="text-align:center" | 2018
! colspan=3| Career
! 47 !! 5 !! 8 !! 543 !! 313 !! 856 !! 229 !! 104 !! 0.1 !! 0.2 !! 11.6 !! 6.7 !! 18.2 !! 4.9 !! 2.2

Honours and achievements

Individual