sentences:  Geelong did not compete in the VFL competition in 1942 and 1943, due to war-time travel restrictions.Burns was the first player in elite Australian rules football to play 300 games, and his career total of 305 remained a Victorian football record until it was broken by Gordon Coventry in the 1937 Grand Final (which was Coventry's last game), with Burns in attendance as Geelong's timekeeper.He died in Williamstown, Victoria on 11 October 1952.