It would be fair to say that prior to the Adelaide United match this week, the Perth Glory fanbase had not yet fully warmed to new club captain Jacob Burns. While past captains such as Jamie Harnwell or Gareth Naven were local products with established records out west before they assumed the role, Burns has ‘come in from the cold’ - quite literally in fact, seeing as his last club was in Romania. He’s never played for the purple shirt before; in truth, fans were only likely to know him from his exploits playing against the club during his NSL days with Sydney United and Dave Mitchell’s own Parramatta Power. 

His appearance on advertising billboards around the city justifiably prompted scorn from fans who felt nobody in Perth had a hope of knowing who he was - having never played for the club, and being a fringe Socceroo at best, who was this man to be the face of Perth Glory FC for the coming season? Perhaps a fair argument, considering the fact that local product Chris Coyne was returning from England to play for the team, and current Socceroo Mile Sterjovski had also elected to sign for Perth - both much more marketable assets than Burns himself.

Compounding Burns’ problems in the eyes of the masses was the fact that, by definition, he is not an attractive player to watch on the football field. His game is a physical one; jostling, marking, screening and tackling; and with no disrespect to the man, he does not have the passing skills or vision of a Carlos Hernandez, nor the creative ‘X-Factor’ of a Bobby Despotovski.

Up until the Adelaide game on Tuesday, Burns had not scored nor provided a single assist for his new club. He did a lot of running to seemingly little effect, he threw himself into tackles to the effect of 50 fouls and 5 yellow cards, and some fans were going beyond just calling for the armband to be taken off him - they wanted the guy taken off the park altogether.

My, how the Burns has turned.

Coming off a diabolical 6-2 thrashing from Melbourne, and 2-0 down at half time against Adelaide on Tuesday night, Glory looked gone for all money. Fans were ready to give up the finals race while the club were still in pole position for sixth spot. The lads and lasses on the Tour of Duty were looking forlornly into some very half-empty pint glasses at Hindmarsh Stadium. Make no mistake, Perth needed a hero.

Enter Jacob Burns.

63 minutes in, his team 2-0 down and already guilty of spurning chances to get back into the match, Burns did what every captain needs to do - he lead from the front. He stepped up to a deadball and fired in a screamer of a free kick from 20 metres out, leaving Adelaide custodian Eugene Galekovic with no chance. It smashed into the back of the net and the game was suddenly alive once more.

Six minutes later the game was positively kicking and screaming, as Burns slotted home a second after some great work with substitute Andrija Jukic. All of a sudden Glory had gone from 2-0 to 2-2 in the space of 10 minutes, and there was only going to be one outcome against a demoralised Adelaide United outfit. When new pack mule Daniel McBreen slotted home Glory’s third on the 77 minute mark, it finalised a remarkable comeback engineered by the Perth captain.

Some people may be inclined to say; “Well, it’s good Burns has finally decided to do something”. To these people I would say this - you’re completely wrong. Not because he’s doing nothing, but because he’s been doing a heck of a lot all season to little or no acclaim. Tackling, harrying, jostling, marking, screening, organising, running, challenging, intimidating; Burns has been the glue that sits between Perth’s solid central defenders and their attack-minded midfielders. Like I said before; Burns isn’t what you’d call a ‘beautiful’ footballer. But for me, that’s what makes him so good to watch.

Now don’t get me wrong; I like watching Barcelona and Brazil as much as the next man. But there’s just something about a good, honest, hard-working footballer who plays within his limits and gives 110% for his teammates that really appeals - and this describes Jacob Burns to a T. Sure, he won’t always give the killer through-ball that nobody else can see; but that’s not his job. He busts a gut making sure that opposition attacks are blunted, ensuring that players like Andrija Jukic or Mile Sterjovski always have an option to pass to, or man-marking a dangerous opponent out of the game (when Dave Mitchell feels that might be a smart thing to do. HINT MITCH: You should probably do that to Hernandez). It’s a role that traditionally wins little in the way of plaudits, but Burns does it with aplomb.

“Oh come on!”, I hear you cry. “Knows his own limits? Works hard? Tries? Every bloody hack does that in this league!”. Ah - but you’re wrong. Again. Starting to make a habit out of this, aren’t you?

There are plenty of players in the A-League (and many of them call Perth home) who work hard and try hard, but don’t have anything to show for it at the end of the day. They run 30m down the park and skin three players, but then can’t cross. They try the slide-rule pass to a striker and hit the feet of the defender in front of them. They attempt a clever little flick and end up hitting the ball out for a goal kick. Why? Because they’re trying to do too much - or rather, they’re playing outside their abilities. They’re trying to be a little too ‘specky’, a little too cute, and they’re doing their team a huge disservice. 

Exhibit A: Jamie Coyne. Against Melbourne and Adelaide, Coyne was abysmal. Like a good referee, you know Jamie’s playing well when you don’t notice him. Against these two teams, he was everywhere. Taking the ball and then trotting slowly with it like he’s Franz Beckenbauer or something - except ‘Der Kaiser’ would never have had his pocket picked whilst thinking on the ball. Twice. While playing Adelaide, Jamie received a ball which was the latest in a lovely chain of passes being strung together by his side. The Reds were at sixes and sevens, and couldn't get close to the ball. What does Coyne do? A little too much - trying to slide a cheeky pass down the sideline (rather than the easy option of the open man to his right), he gives the ball directly to an unsuspecting Adelaide player. With a look of surprise on his face, the player clears and the Barrel Boys can regroup.

One of Burns’ main strengths is the fact that he isn’t concerned with over-thinking these things. If a simple pass is there, he’ll play it - and it’ll hit its target. Easy. He’ll then go on a bit of a run, or screen a man, or whatever. Basically, he’ll keep the game moving and be a team player. It’s not exhilarating stuff, no - but it works. Similar to the way Glory used to play under Mich D’Avray, if you get the basics right in this league, you’ve already got an advantage over many of your competitors. Unfortunately many of Burns’s teammates don’t follow the same school of thought; and this has been the undoing of Glory on many an occasion this year.

This isn’t to say Burns has been perfect. He’s made mistakes, same as anyone else. He could have picked up fewer yellows. He could have marshalled the team better at freekicks earlier in the season. But, like the fans who are slowly warming to him, he’s gradually been growing into his role as captain of Perth Glory. 

It’s unfortunate for Jacob that it took a stellar attacking performance featuring two goals for him to start to win some plaudits, when in fact he’s actually been working hard for the team all year. It was however extremely fortunate for Glory, who desperately needed those three points against Adelaide to keep Central Coast at bay in the battle for sixth spot. Recalling a recent blog where I said I’d be happy with 3 or 4 points from the Tour of Duty, that’s just about mission accomplished. Now many fans feel the danger may no longer be missing the finals, but only just making it and being stuck with David Mitchell for another year or two. Still, that’s a matter for another blog.

For now, let us raise our collective glasses to the somewhat under-appreciated Jacob Burns - he’s not always pretty to watch, but he’s nearly always a key player in Glory getting the job done; never more so than on Tuesday night.