The 20-year-old finished 2013 strongly after an injury interrupted start to the year, playing in the club’s semi final win against Carlton and preliminary final loss to Fremantle and kicked two goals in both matches.
This year, Cunningham continued his good form and was one of the most impressive young performers throughout the pre-season. His speed and goal kicking ability earning him praise from the coaching staff, including senior coach John Longmire who entrusted him to play a midfield role in the first two matches of the season.
With just eight senior games to his name so far, Cunningham told SwansTV he hoped to continue his string of games this Saturday afternoon when the Swans travel to Adelaide to take on the Crows.
“(My form’s) going well at the moment, so hopefully I can keep my spot,” Cunningham said.
“I don’t feel like I’ve cemented my spot just yet, so I’ll just keep working hard during the week trying to cement that spot and hopefully the games can keep coming.”
Cunningham understands that his speed is one of his major assets, and has been working hard to learn how to best use it to his advantage.
The young player has been keeping a close eye on the work of Gary Rohan and the way he uses his speed to make the most of his opportunities.
“It’s always good when there is someone like Gaz (Gary Rohan) up in the forward line who has a fair bit of pace and can pressure the opposition and cause plenty of turnovers, which can turn into goals,” he said.
“Being able to have that speed, it helps you get a bit of space on your opponent as we’re coming out of the backline.
“If I can break the space and if the midfielders or defenders can get it out wide, I can be there to get the footy.”
While Cunningham feels confident playing up forward, his goal is to develop into a full-time midfielder with his mentor, co-captain Kieren Jack, the player he hopes to mirror his game on.
“He’s been around for a long time now and sort of plays a similar role to myself,” he said.
“He came through the ranks as a forward and then into the midfield.
“He’s an elite player, so if I could be half as good as he is then I’d be very happy.
“I’m just looking to model my game on the way he goes about it and it’s starting to work.”
Cunningham hopes to line up in the midfield when the Swans travel to Adelaide Oval this weekend.
The Turvey Park product said the Swans were determined to turn around their recent poor performances and put that first win on the board for 2014.
“It has been a couple of disappointing weeks but we’re looking forward to the Adelaide game this week,” he said.
“We’ve looked at the areas we need to improve and we’re up for the challenge.
“One would be just putting in a four-quarter effort.
“We’ve been playing alright for about a half or three quarters but we haven’t really put a four-quarter effort together yet.
“We’re really looking forward to it so we’re going to stick together and go over to Adelaide and give it a good shake.”
