Australian cycling legend Charlie Walsh believes a number of Adelaide Crows players possess the qualities of a “world’s best” athlete.

According to Walsh, the elite athlete is the “total package” – extreme mental strength and skill.

“There’s a whole range of them that have pretty outstanding qualities,” Walsh said. “Performance is very much about the strength of mind, and with their commitment and skill they have the attributes to be the best in the world.”

Walsh, who assists with fitness, rehabilitation and conditioning at the Crows referred to Mark Ricciuto and Andrew McLeod as ideal athletes. However, he singled out Brett Burton as an athlete with the potential to be a world class cyclist.

“Somebody who is really quite exceptional is Brett Burton,” Walsh said. “Aerobically he is very, very good and explosively he is also remarkable. The bit of testing work that I have done with him on the bicycles – he has the physiological attributes to be one of the very best in the world in the cycling disciplines that would suit him. His fierceness to win is apart of that package.”

Walsh is also impressed with Crows youngster Chris Knights.

“Chris Knights is a guy who I think has, physiologically, real top end stuff,” Walsh said. “I’m not sure that he would know how to use that properly yet. And that’s part of his development, with techniques and skills. If you’ve got power, you’ve also got to know how to use it.”

The former Australian cycling coach believes that a craving to be the best is essential for elite athletes.

“They’ve got to have a fierceness to be the best,” Walsh said. “When you achieve a level, then you look for another level. But it’s the fierceness of the mind – the control. If you look at the top class footballers they are very much in control of what they do. That’s strength of mind.”

For Walsh, the significant difference between working with AFL footballers and world class cyclists is the idea of ‘team’.

“Within the Adelaide Football Club you see the same qualities as you see in individual sports such as cycling,” he said. “The major difference that I see with the Crows is that these people have a better understanding of team, and commitment to team, than those from individual backgrounds. It’s the demands of the sport, and the way it works.”

As well as working with players behind the scenes, Walsh is involved with the players and their mental approach on match days.

“My match day role came about because of the players and Neil some years ago, and that mainly involves providing them with a little bit of feedback about management of themselves, which they’re very good at now anyhow,” he said. “I think it (my role) has become much less involved than it was initially.”

Walsh, who has been involved with elite sport since 1980, had worked with Neil Craig who was formerly with the South Australian Sports Institute and Australian Cycling.

According to Walsh, it was Craig’s appointment as Adelaide’s fitness coach in 1997 that led to him becoming involved with the football club.

“I linked up with Craigy when he was a Sports Scientist at SASI (South Australian Sports Institute). That’s probably more than 15 years ago. Neil then ended up working with Australian cycling full time as part of the program, and you just don’t lose contact.

“When I retired and he joined the Crows as an assistant, he involved me straight away, in terms of rides up and down Norton Summit (during pre-season) and other things like that. I guess the relationship continued.”