NSW Player of the Week: Harry Cunningham

By Alison Zell

It was a meteoric rise to the AFL for former Turvey Park junior Harry Cunningham, who went from completing his final HSC exams in Wagga Wagga at the end of 2011, to moving to Sydney to begin life as a professional footballer just a few weeks later.

Cunningham was drafted to the Sydney Swans rookie list in 2011 and an impressive pre-season saw him play every game of the 2012 NAB Cup, be promoted to the Swans’ senior list and make his AFL debut as the substitute in the Round 1 match against the GWS GIANTS.

Unfortunately he hasn’t played a game since, but the 19-year-old determined to play his second AFL game in 2013.

Cunningham began playing AFL as a kid growing up in sports-mad Wagga Wagga in southern NSW, following his family into the sport.

“I started playing footy when I was about 4-years-old with Auskick in Turvey Park,” he said.

“Dad was a pretty good footballer playing for Turvey Park and my brother and cousins played so that’s how I started.

“I played a lot of other sports but I suppose I enjoyed AFL a lot more and a lot of my friends played AFL over the other sports.

“I was just a little better at AFL that the other sports and I thought I had a real chance to have a go at it … so I stuck with it and I enjoyed it and I was lucky to make it.”

Luck had nothing to do with Cunningham’s journey to the AFL, with the talented teenager working his way through the state talent systems before catching the eye of recruiters playing for the GIANTS Academy in the lead-up to their introduction to the League.

“The Under-16s Rams was when I made it, got a couple of games and that’s where it really started and progressed on to Under-18s and through the GWS Academy,” Cunningham said.

“I got a few games for GWS and was lucky enough to get a bit of exposure to the AFL clubs and recruiters.”

When the GIANTS passed on the option to list Cunningham as a zone selection, other clubs pounced, with several clubs keen to talk to the quick half-forward.

“They (the GIANTS) sort of just said ‘we’ll talk to you during the draft period’ and I didn’t really hear from them but I was lucky enough to hear from a couple of other clubs, luckily mainly the Swans,” he said.

“They were the keen recruiters who really wanted me and I was really happy with that and luckily they came along because I wouldn’t be here today.

“It all happened pretty quickly actually because I got a two-week trial here to train before I got a spot so within a week they told me and then in that first week I moved up and lived with a couple of local NSW boys in (former players) Nathan Gordon and Dylan McNeil.

“It all happened very quickly, I was lucky enough to work pretty hard and get the rookie spot and from there on I sort of haven’t looked back.”

Like many other Swans, Cunningham had to move away from home to chase his AFL dream and said while the move was a big change; he was welcomed with opened arms.

“It’s definitely a bit of a shock, a month before I moved up I was still at school doing HSC so it all happened very quickly and I suppose that’s the daunting part, just how quickly it all happened,” he said.

“But once you’re here for about a week you settle in, you get to know the guys.

“The Swans are really welcoming like that, they go out of their way to make sure you’re comfortable with everything that’s going on and I couldn’t be more grateful.”

After his whirlwind start to his AFL career, Cunningham was naturally disappointed that he was not able to cement a spot in the senior team, but still pleased with his AFL debut.

“That was massive, it was a bit of a reward for working hard since I got to the club and really cracking in and having a go,” he said.

“I suppose it’s been a little disappointing to not get another game since then but I’m still continuing to improve on the areas I need to as well as bringing my strengths to the table because that’s what’s going to get me a senior game.

“It all happened very quickly but it was all just a reward for hard work I suppose.”

Cunningham played out the 2012 season with the reserves side in the NEAFL competition and while he didn’t manage another senior game in the team that would go on to win the Premiership, he continued to impress and was rewarded with a new contract and a spot on the 2013 senior list.

He set himself for a big pre-season and to capitalise on the improvement he had made in 2012.

“First of all it was just to have a massive pre-season,” he said.

“I was going to do a lot more in this pre-season than I did in my first year just because of the workload and they’re just little short term goals – to play NAB Cup, to stay injury free and then Round 1 and then from there just to go and play good footy no matter what level I was playing and keep working with the coaches to improve my game.”

Cunningham was struck down with injury in just his third game this season and it has been a long road back for the young footballer.

“I got injured in Round 3 and did a pretty serious knee injury so I sat out about six or seven weeks so it sort of set me back a bit,” he said.

“But I worked pretty hard with the physios, really closely with them.

“I’m lucky enough to be back on the field now, played my first full game on the weekend and my goal at the moment is still to get it 100 per cent right and be playing those full games and then I can have a massive impact on training and games.”

He may only be 19, but Cunningham is one of the oldest in a Swans reserves side that is almost entirely made up of 2012 draftees.

“I think we’ve got nine or 10 first-year players that I suppose are in the development group and they’ve brought the best out of me in my leadership and I really do see that as a role I can play,” he said.

“I’ve got to really step up and help the young guys whether it be on the field or off the field and I’m happy to do it and that leadership role is something I like doing, I like helping out the younger blokes.”

While he continues to give advice to his younger teammates in Sydney, Cunningham also recently travelled back home to Wagga Wagga to watch his younger brother Jesse play in the Carroll Cup, and had some words of wisdom for him too.

“It was really good, it was a really good opportunity to go back and I suppose watch him play footy because he’s definitely progressed of late and I haven’t been able to watch him as much.

“I was in that Carroll Cup side not long ago when I was lucky enough to win it so I was just happy to go and watch him and give him a few tips during it.

“He was just happy I was there as well which is another good thing, seeing him enjoy playing footy and enjoy his family being there watching.”

Cunningham is passionate about his home town and has enjoyed seeing the game grow in his local area.

“It’s definitely grown massively since the likes of Paul Kelly, especially with the Riverina rep sides coming up, the Academies, and there are so many opportunities you can trial for so you can make it the whole way if you’re really determined and you really want that,” he said.

“It’s just a massive thing for NSW to do because they really want to get NSW boys playing in the AFL and I suppose Sydney’s a good rep for that, there’s a lot of NSW boys here playing so it’s massive for NSW.”

While injury had curtailed some of Cunningham’s goals for the season, he is still just focused on earning his second AFL game.

“First of all is just to get a couple of full games in and make sure my knee is fully right to go and hopefully if I’m in the form I can push for senior selection,” he said.

“Just to get the knee right and then play some good footy and anything can happen from there.”