Career
Originally from Street Mary"s Football Club of the Northern Territory Football League, Burns moved to Western Australia and played colts football for Claremont Football Club before moving back to Darwin. He was lured back to Perth by the West Perth Football Club before being drafted to the Geelong Cats in the American Federation of Labor-Congress. Burns led the Cats in goalkicking 5 times, playing as a small crumbing forward during a less decorated time for the club After a period of poor play, the Cats traded Burns to the Adelaide Crows for Ben Finnin, who ultimately did not play a game for the Cats.
Burns played out the rest of his career with the Crows, but failed to make the same impact as he had made for the Cats.
Burns played 154 games and kicked 262 goals from 1995–2004.