Burston returned to action with the Waverley Falcons last weekend for his first competitive hit-out since injury ended his 2006-07 NBL campaign.

It’s a slow and steady return but for Burston, every minute on court is key to a successful recovery.

The 24-year-old will again suit up for the Falcons this weekend in Round 9 of BigV competition. And while he may only play limited minutes, the South Dragons’ big man couldn’t be happier just to be back on court.

“I’ll definitely play this Saturday night against Diamond Valley for 10 or 15 minutes, maybe more depending on how I’m going,” Burston said.

“Next week if I’m still going well with training and still responding well I’ll start building up more and more court time towards a full game.”

Burston’s return follows months of intensive rehabilitation from ankle surgery in March.

“Since the surgery it’s made a huge difference, they went in there and took the plate out and found a pretty large chunk of loose bone floating around in the joint as well,” he said.

“It was just after the season in March that they removed that chunk of bone and that’s really freed (the joint) up.

“The (surgeons) are saying that where it was bone on bone this time last year, there’s now a nice layer of cartilage growing over the joint and the ankle is responding really well towards training and everything like that.

“At the moment at all the training sessions I haven’t even noticed my ankle, it’s been moving that well I don’t feel any pain in it at all which is a big difference.”

While the news is all good on the rehabilitation front, Burston is not taking any risks in his return to elite-level ball.

“I’m training with Waverley on Thursday nights only at the moment because I’m with the Dragons Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and I try to have Tuesday and Friday to ride or swim and just stay off my feet for the next few weeks,” he said.

“At this stage I want to make sure I take all the necessary precautions and don’t overdo it too early.”

But despite his cautious approach, Burston is outwardly optimistic about his return to full fitness.

“At this stage I’m out to just get a good base of fitness, get my touch back and learn how to dominate games again so I can go into the pre-season with the Dragons full of confidence and with a good fitness base behind me,” he said.

“I couldn’t be happier with how (the ankle) is responding to each and every session, I’m taking a really managed approach but I’m really happy with how it’s all going and definitely looking forward to a big year.”

Limited to just 14 games for the South Dragons last season, fans are yet to see the best of Burston.

Now he is set to give the league one serious shake.