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

For mine watching this game, he is IMO the best player in the game right now

The ball goes exactly where he wants it every time he disposes of it. He makes his teammates better, his disposal actually draws his teammates into better position ie the Turner one on the half forward flank last night

He is the best handballer in the competition bar none. It is art when he gets rid of it

Seriously. Dangerfield is good but not going as well as Ben is. Cripps is a star and for mine probably the only one I'd have on the same level of consistent output that Ben has had over the last six weeks

He's a ******* wizard
 

7577969923

Norm Smith Medallist
Sep 20, 2018
6,176
16,379
AFL Club
North Melbourne
For mine watching this game, he is IMO the best player in the game right now

The ball goes exactly where he wants it every time he disposes of it. He makes his teammates better, his disposal actually draws his teammates into better position ie the Turner one on the half forward flank last night

He is the best handballer in the competition bar none. It is art when he gets rid of it

Seriously. Dangerfield is good but not going as well as Ben is. Cripps is a star and for mine probably the only one I'd have on the same level of consistent output that Ben has had over the last six weeks

He's a ******* wizard

I have not been a Turner fan by any stretch but he deserves credit in that play. His direct opponent, Mayne, got sucked into the contest instead of being accountable to his man. Turner just positioned himself in a perfect bit of space.
 

North Melbourne coach Rhyce Shaw says Ben Cunnington must be All-Australian in 2019

Jay Clark, Herald Sun
an hour ago
Subscriber only
North Melbourne coach Rhyce Shaw says the All-Australian selectors cannot ignore Ben Cunnington’s elite onball work this season.
The hard-nut midfielder has finished top-two in the club’s best and fairest four times, but has never before made the 40-man All-Australian squad.
But the selectors’ snub is certain to end this season with Cunnington enhancing his reputation as one of the league’s finest hard ball winners.

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It’s time for Ben Cunnington to be an All-Australian, interim North coach Rhyce Shaw says. Picture: AAP

The clearance king will catapult into the top three players in the AFL Coaches Association awards today, but is still $41 to win the Brownlow Medal with TAB.

Shaw said his blistering form has to be recognised for the first time by the All-Australian selectors at season’s end after once again starring in the win over Collingwood on Saturday night.


“If he’s not in All-Australian consideration then I don’t know what that team is about,” Shaw said on Triple M.

“I don’t like invidualising in front of the team, but I just think Ben Cunnington, he is a freak.”

Shaw said Cunnington, who turned 28 yesterday and signed a two-year contract extension last week, was one of the best on-ballers he had seen.
“The way he is playing at the moment, I’ve seen some great players play, but he would have to be right up there,” Shaw said.
“He is playing sensation football, he is doing the grunt work for us, he is getting tagged, he is getting heavily hit, he is getting out of trouble and he is still getting his 37 (disposals) and 15 (contested possessions).”
 
Jun 17, 2011
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From The Age Four Points article about the weekends games:

CUNNINGTON'S A CLASS ACT
If there was anyone emblematic of the gulf in the two sides on Saturday it was Ben Cunnington. If they could give all Brownlow votes to one player for Saturday night then Cunnington deserved six.
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Buckley lamented his side’s insipid physical game, which was accurate and fair comment because when you set it against Cunnington in particular it looked like players playing two different games.
Cunnington could not be tackled and his handballs put his teammates into space.
No arguments: Ben Cunnington's display against the Pies reconfirmed his elite status.
No arguments: Ben Cunnington's display against the Pies reconfirmed his elite status.CREDIT:AAP

Cunnington suffers for profile because his club suffers for profile, but he is rarely beaten and is as brutal around the ball as any player in the competition.
A curious fact about Cunnington, as picked up by Julian De Stoop in commentary, is that he’s a right-foot kick but only handballs left-handed.
 
Feb 19, 2016
29,260
36,587
AFL Club
North Melbourne
From The Age Four Points article about the weekends games:

CUNNINGTON'S A CLASS ACT
If there was anyone emblematic of the gulf in the two sides on Saturday it was Ben Cunnington. If they could give all Brownlow votes to one player for Saturday night then Cunnington deserved six.
Advertisement

Buckley lamented his side’s insipid physical game, which was accurate and fair comment because when you set it against Cunnington in particular it looked like players playing two different games.
Cunnington could not be tackled and his handballs put his teammates into space.
No arguments: Ben Cunnington's display against the Pies reconfirmed his elite status.'s display against the Pies reconfirmed his elite status.
No arguments: Ben Cunnington's display against the Pies reconfirmed his elite status.CREDIT:AAP

Cunnington suffers for profile because his club suffers for profile, but he is rarely beaten and is as brutal around the ball as any player in the competition.
A curious fact about Cunnington, as picked up by Julian De Stoop in commentary, is that he’s a right-foot kick but only handballs left-handed.
I wonder who wrote that because the profile thing is something I haven't gotten over in 15 years.
 
In the 3rd quarter cunners intercepted a mark and WHE collected cunners in the process. Cunners got up angry and took a step towards WHE and I detected WHE’s lip quaver and a brown liquid running down the inside of his leg.
I think he forgot who he had made to earn that mark
 
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