Burston returns to the club on a one-year deal with the option to extend his contract into a second season, after injury cut short his 2006-07 campaign.

“My last season was interrupted with a few injuries and I suppose I rushed back into it and I was a little underdone, but now I’ve got a whole pre-season to get it right and I’m feeling good,” Burston said.

The 210cm centre played 115 games for the Perth Wildcats from 2001-06 before managing just 14 games for the Dragons last season.

At 24 years of age Burston is determined to prove his worth on the national stage.

“I want to prove that I can still play at this level and have a good year,” Burston said.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity that I’ve been given and I want to repay the club for the faith they’ve shown in me.”

The South Dragons tall underwent a final bout of ankle surgery in early March and is now looking forward to the year ahead.

“It’s a good group of guys and I think we can achieve a lot this year,” he said.

“We’ve gone from a pretty small team to a really tall team, so hopefully we will be able to run with a bit of height and be able to match up against the other teams but still have the agility to be able to move and take on the smaller sides.”

South Dragons coach Shane Heal said Burston was an exciting player to have returning to the club.

“We’re extremely optimistic about where (Matt’s) injury is at and it’s all about the injury for Matt because we’ve got no doubt of his ability to be a very good player in the NBL,” he said.

“He only played 13-odd games last year and of those he didn’t play a lot of court time, so we really missed what he can do and the ability that he has.

“We can’t wait for him to get back, everyone’s really excited to have re-signed him and we think he’s going to have a big year.”

Burston will add valuable depth to the Dragons’ line-up ahead of the club’s 2007-08 campaign.

“Nick Horvath will start in the five spot and I think Matt will add a lot of depth for us and it will be an exciting time for him and the club if he can string the number of games that we need him to together,” Heal said.

Burston joins Heal, Horvath, Cortez Groves, Brent Hobba, Jacob Holmes, Joe Ingles, Brad Hill and Luke Martin in the new-look Dragons camp.