Renowned fitness boss departs Crows to join Italian football giants in big blow

Renowned high performance boss Darren Burgess is heading back to Europe, leaving the Adelaide Crows for Italian football giants Juventus.

Burgess joined the Crows back in 2022 and has been widely regarded as one of the key reasons they surged from 15th to the AFL minor premiership this season, transforming their ability to cover the ground.

It is a feat Burgess has achieved across several teams and sporting codes across his more than 25 year career.

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The 51-year-old has bounced between the United Kingdom and Australia over the journey, starting out at Port Adelaide as head fitness coach before joining Football Federation Australia as head of fitness and then taking on the head of fitness and conditioning role at current English champions Liverpool.

He returned home to the Power as high performance manager after two-and-a-half year at Anfield, but was brought back to the English Premier League in 2017 by Arsenal as director of high performance.

Burgess then came back to Australia in 2019 and joined Melbourne with his time as high performance manager culminating in the 2021 premiership.

Across the last six years back in Australia, Burgess has also worked with now defunct A-League club Western United.

Reports suggested that Essendon were trying to pursue Burgess, who was under contract with the Crows until 2026, but instead of Melbourne Airport, Juventus’ training facility outside of Turin, which boasts 11 football pitches and just about every piece of high performance equipment ones heart could desire, will be Burgess’ office.

Juventus said in their club statement that Burgess, whose title will be director performance, will work closely with current manager Igor Tudor as well as Italian football legend Giorgio Chiellini, who is the club’s director of football strategy, and other members of the coaching staff, “across all the technical areas and every age group of the blub to form a high-level team dedicated to promoting excellence in performance, innovation and athlete wellbeing”.

“Born in Australia, Darren is recognised and respected as one of the world’s leading performance managers, bringing with him over 25 years of international experience in sports leadership,” the statement continued.

“The highlights of his career include his work on injury prevention, supervision of the medical and performance department in all its aspects – fitness, nutrition, rehabilitation, psychology and recovery for both men and women – and innovation in talent development.

“Throughout his career, Darren has made significant contributions through his work both in Europe (at Liverpool and Arsenal, for example, working actively in injury prevention) and across the globe, including consulting with clubs in the NFL and NBA (his most recent collaboration being in Australia with Adelaide Football Club).”

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