Past #10: Ben Cunnington - will retire from the AFL after * game - 238 games/95+ goals/2x Syd Barker Medalist/Shinboner - thanks for everything Cunners

Pulled the trigger.

Could only happen as Simpkin was getting busy through the middle.
Someone made a comment that during the preseason game against Sydney we made our move when the likes of Simpkin, Hall and Anderson were in the middle and Cunners and Jack we’re not in there.
Something in that.
We are unpredictable and throwing Cunners forward as we did today is another weapon.
Dusty does it. Danger does it. Why shouldn’t Ben?
 
Jun 9, 2001
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We are unpredictable and throwing Cunners forward as we did today is another weapon.
Dusty does it. Danger does it. Why shouldn’t Ben?

It did happen a little bit in one Scott season, maybe 2014? But not that often.

He's a genuine capable forward the same as Ziebell.

Whilst the Stevo comparisons are reasonable Cunnington is a much classier player than his reputation suggests. He looks like a socks down grunt but has rare judgement and pose.

Stevo was no hack but his game was much about relentless effort and inner grit than Cunners' ever has been.
 
Apr 24, 2013
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Cunners is a pretty deadly weapon in the F50, which for quite a while has been an underutilised string in his bow, could almost be just as dangerous in a 1 on 1 there as Dusty, and he is the benchmark at it (imo).

It's a nice tool in the kit provided we can cover his loss in the midfield. I am going to study the game closer to see what tactically evolved.
 
It did happen a little bit in one Scott season, maybe 2014? But not that often.

He's a genuine capable forward the same as Ziebell.

Whilst the Stevo comparisons are reasonable Cunnington is a much classier player than his reputation suggests. He looks like a socks down grunt but has rare judgement and pose.

Stevo was no hack but his game was much about relentless effort and inner grit than Cunners' ever has been.
The 2014 side when Wells, Dal Santo, Swallow, Boomer were around allowed us to do so but in the last 4 years Ben has always wanted to start in the middle. Or come off for a spell.
Going forward any time Ziebell or Jed have a spell in the middle we should throw him forward rather than rotate him off.

Now we have a sample hopefully it’s choice and not circumstance where we trial it again.
 

Rad Roo

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Aug 2, 2017
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Cunners is a pretty deadly weapon in the F50, which for quite a while has been an underutilised string in his bow, could almost be just as dangerous in a 1 on 1 there as Dusty, and he is the benchmark at it (imo).

But this requires the coach to think out of the box and have the courage for cunnington to be used in a role that might not utilize his most obvious strengh. Also this require the coach team to look past the tried and test blue collar north melbourne mentality. The brad scotts are but products of the early 2000s where this method worked very well for brisbane, obvious today's game require more advanced options. Cunnington can be a weapon, a perfect tool to create mismatches where he can be one out against opponent's small defender, drag him to the goal square with ziebell around the 50 arc. Will have wonderful results.
 
Jul 6, 2006
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Perhaps this is a good example of old-school footy having something that new science got wrong. Don't take champions off the ground. Leigh Matthews would "rest" in the forward line and kick goals when he wasn't racking up clearances in the centre. Rotations might be great for some players but can you imagine sending Matthews or Schimma or Ablett sn or Carey to the bench when they were on song? Sure there are some players that perform better when they work in bursts, but I think Cunners is more old school, like Goldy, they play better when they play the whole game. Don't create blanket policies for everyone to follow, understand the strengths of each player and see how they can best help us win the game. Having the injuries might have mucked up the rotations but we went from 31 points down to winning the game.
 
Aug 16, 2009
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Perhaps this is a good example of old-school footy having something that new science got wrong. Don't take champions off the ground. Leigh Matthews would "rest" in the forward line and kick goals when he wasn't racking up clearances in the centre. Rotations might be great for some players but can you imagine sending Matthews or Schimma or Ablett sn or Carey to the bench when they were on song? Sure there are some players that perform better when they work in bursts, but I think Cunners is more old school, like Goldy, they play better when they play the whole game. Don't create blanket policies for everyone to follow, understand the strengths of each player and see how they can best help us win the game. Having the injuries might have mucked up the rotations but we went from 31 points down to winning the game.
Really like this post HongKongRoo .....take DeGoey for example. Rated as one of the most explosive players in the game.
But Cunners would be just as good, if not better, playing the role JDG gets to. We just need Jy and LDU and others to pick up their midfield minutes, which Jy is clearly already doing.
 
Perhaps this is a good example of old-school footy having something that new science got wrong. Don't take champions off the ground. Leigh Matthews would "rest" in the forward line and kick goals when he wasn't racking up clearances in the centre. Rotations might be great for some players but can you imagine sending Matthews or Schimma or Ablett sn or Carey to the bench when they were on song? Sure there are some players that perform better when they work in bursts, but I think Cunners is more old school, like Goldy, they play better when they play the whole game. Don't create blanket policies for everyone to follow, understand the strengths of each player and see how they can best help us win the game. Having the injuries might have mucked up the rotations but we went from 31 points down to winning the game.

This is so true it's not funny. Why he's never ben rested in the forward line - even as a decoy full forward so we are not so predictable is beyond me. He has great hands and a really reliable kick. if you google you'll see he kicked 10 on debut as a 15 year old for Camperdown.
 
This is so true it's not funny. Why he's never ben rested in the forward line - even as a decoy full forward so we are not so predictable is beyond me. He has great hands and a really reliable kick. if you google you'll see he kicked 10 on debut as a 15 year old for Camperdown.

Why he's never ben rested in the forward line - even as a decoy full forward so we are not so predictable is beyond me....

Because he couldn’t run out a game. Pretty simple.

You still need to be fit to play forward. If not, opposition would just run off him and have a spare man down field and cut us open... Seen that before.

It’s been stated many time’s that the senior players had it put on them to improve with Shaw taking over. Cunners no exception. He’s been told to get fitter and run. It paid off on the weekend. He’d have struggled to do that with no rotations previously.
 
It did happen a little bit in one Scott season, maybe 2014? But not that often.

He's a genuine capable forward the same as Ziebell.

Whilst the Stevo comparisons are reasonable Cunnington is a much classier player than his reputation suggests. He looks like a socks down grunt but has rare judgement and pose.

Stevo was no hack but his game was much about relentless effort and inner grit than Cunners' ever has been.

Kicked five against the Dogs?
 
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