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

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OnceKicked50 said:
Yep. I think you guys missed an opportunity this trade period to be bold. Should of tried to get a top 5 pick for him...
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There is a fine line between being bold and being stupid, only with hindsight is that revealed.
 
Tas said:
There is a fine line between being bold and being stupid, only with hindsight is that revealed.
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True. But all fans should be hoping their club is doing everything to deliver the next flag. North put all their eggs in the basket to try and win one, played in multiple prelims and unfortunately for North fans fell short. The list rebuild has commenced, but why settle for falling just short again. Be bold, take a risk to look stupid and deliver a flag in the next 3 to 4 years.

For mine, North's midfield lacks some polish. Some pace and some X-factor. Cunnington and Ziebell are like players. They are old fashioned followers that can push forward and hit the scoreboard. I just don't see them being in the discussion as the games best midfielders.

Perhaps the draft wasn't great this year, but if there is some elite talent in 2017's draft then you should look to getting a top 6 or 7 pick for Cunnington.
 

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OnceKicked50 said:
Yep. I think you guys missed an opportunity this trade period to be bold. Should of tried to get a top 5 pick for him...
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The problem isn't Cunnington. It's balance. Every club needs a clearance player as good as Cunnington. At his best he's top 5 in the league at what he does. The problem was that around him the rest of the midfield has (Ziebell, Swallow and Wells) all had the same issues of not being particularly good defensively on the spread, so when we did lose clearances we lost them badly and they often ended in shots on goal.
Now Wells is gone, Swallow has lost captaincy which should mean that he no longer remains an automatic selection if he can't improve his running game and disposal and Ziebell of course remains but we might see him used as a utility more in the future. Cunnington is our centre player and is fantastic at what he does there. He has been told he needs to improve his running and hopefully he will. We have other good on-ballers coming through but none are in Cunners's mould of that player that can get consistently 6-8 clearances a game.
 
OnceKicked50 said:
Yep. I think you guys missed an opportunity this trade period to be bold. Should of tried to get a top 5 pick for him...
Click to expand...

Trade Cunnington is sacrilege in my view. But I'm not going to have a go at you as there are plenty of North posters saying the same thing.

I am currently gathering as many eggs as I can because lots of faces will be needing them in the next 6-9 months. Hey, no need to thank me for that, I'm a community-minded guy.
 
Heaps of fun said:
The problem isn't Cunnington. It's balance. Every club needs a clearance player as good as Cunnington. At his best he's top 5 in the league at what he does. The problem was that around him the rest of the midfield has (Ziebell, Swallow and Wells) all had the same issues of not being particularly good defensively on the spread, so when we did lose clearances we lost them badly and they often ended in shots on goal.
Now Wells is gone, Swallow has lost captaincy which should mean that he no longer remains an automatic selection if he can't improve his running game and disposal and Ziebell of course remains but we might see him used as a utility more in the future. Cunnington is our centre player and is fantastic at what he does there. He has been told he needs to improve his running and hopefully he will. We have other good on-ballers coming through but none are in Cunners's mould of that player that can get consistently 6-8 clearances a game.
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Ziebell?
 
LuvtheKangas said:
Trade Cunnington is sacrilege in my view. But I'm not going to have a go at you as there are plenty of North posters saying the same thing.

I am currently gathering as many eggs as I can because lots of faces will be needing them in the next 6-9 months. Hey, no need to thank me for that, I'm a community-minded guy.
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Ha. Obviously he is elite at winning the contested ball. But I just can't see hime entering the debate as one of the games premier mids. He is best suited to the second or third best midfielder if your hoping to win a premiership. Ziebell also. He just lacks that game changing ability all the best mids have, to be able to burst from a pack or deliver a 50m meter pass off one step.

Long term, I think your best suited to only one of Ziebell or Cunnington as a starting mid and flipping either for a crack at an elite level draft talent. Try and get the next Bont.
 
OnceKicked50 said:
True. But all fans should be hoping their club is doing everything to deliver the next flag. North put all their eggs in the basket to try and win one, played in multiple prelims and unfortunately for North fans fell short.
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We didn't put all our eggs in one basket, we picked up a few mature aged players, mostly through free agency and some via rookie draft. We still invested heavily in youth, we just tried to compensate for previous poor recruitment and a lack of good quality mature players.

The list rebuild has commenced, but why settle for falling just short again. Be bold, take a risk to look stupid and deliver a flag in the next 3 to 4 years.
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We haven't been rebuilding, other than what clubs normally do in terms of list management. We let guys who were 32+ retire, which shouldn't be considered a radical move. Our best team post retirements still puts the average age between 25 and 26 and an average number of games played of 110, it still has enough maturity in it.

We just have young players that need progressing, having too many older and mature fringe players blocking the pathway will just cause us to lose young players we have invested in. Our only real problem is that we have lacked the consistency in terms of the younger maturing players pushing to that next bracket, if enough fail to lead and take the next step over the next year or two, then we will have to rebuild as they wont be adequate senior players.

For mine, North's midfield lacks some polish. Some pace and some X-factor. Cunnington and Ziebell are like players. They are old fashioned followers that can push forward and hit the scoreboard. I just don't see them being in the discussion as the games best midfielders.
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Our midfield lacks a lot of polish. We have recruited a lot of guys with similar strengths and weaknesses so it lacks balance. Our gameplan and stoppage structure isn't what I would call ideal either, nor is the system of ball movement. We need more players that run and carry the ball and retain possession. That is something that can change relatively quickly. I think Clarke and Dumont will be good players for us, there are plenty of good quality young mids in the draft that should be in range of our first two picks. If we recruit well and improve our coaching issues, we could still be back in action in a year or so, which to me isn't a rebuild.

Perhaps the draft wasn't great this year, but if there is some elite talent in 2017's draft then you should look to getting a top 6 or 7 pick for Cunnington.
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It may not be the greatest, but it has elements in it that we need, which should be in range of our picks.
 
astrovic said:
From the NMFC website gif comp running at the moment - this is so good.

GOYR112016CunningtonDummy.gif
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stops too early. Do the Tigers players run into each other??
 
OnceKicked50 said:
Ha. Obviously he is elite at winning the contested ball. But I just can't see hime entering the debate as one of the games premier mids. He is best suited to the second or third best midfielder if your hoping to win a premiership. Ziebell also. He just lacks that game changing ability all the best mids have, to be able to burst from a pack or deliver a 50m meter pass off one step.

Long term, I think your best suited to only one of Ziebell or Cunnington as a starting mid and flipping either for a crack at an elite level draft talent. Try and get the next Bont.
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Not all elite players burst from the pack or kick a fifty metre pass off one step. I'd hazard a guess and say i dont think you would have watched enough of North to know why Ziebell or Cunnington are rated so highly.
 
DunderHead said:
Not all elite players burst from the pack or kick a fifty metre pass off one step. I'd hazard a guess and say i dont think you would have watched enough of North to know why Ziebell or Cunnington are rated so highly.
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No of-course not all players do that. That's what generally separates elite mids of the past decade. Danger, Ablett and Judd all had the ability to burst away. Mitchell could hit a target either foot off one step. Fyfe is built like a CHF. Kennedy is the same. Selwood, Hodge and Bartel are big moment/big game leaders. Time stands still with Pendles and Swan is one of the best gut runners of the modern era.

All of these had an elite ability to win a contested ball, but what separated them from others was they also had something else to influence games.

I would hazard a guess external to North fans most AFL supporters would view each of Ziebell and Cunnington as good footballers. Not elite. None of the players mentioned above spring to mind with these two. I more think of Luke Ball, Jude Bolten, Brad Sewell and Scott Thompson. Very good players. Hall of Fame players of their respective clubs. But none of these was ever their sides best mid.

That's my point, if you can move Cunnington to find the next Bont in the top 5 of a draft its well worth it.
 

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OnceKicked50 said:
No of-course not all players do that. That's what generally separates elite mids of the past decade. Danger, Ablett and Judd all had the ability to burst away. Mitchell could hit a target either foot off one step. Fyfe is built like a CHF. Kennedy is the same. Selwood, Hodge and Bartel are big moment/big game leaders. Time stands still with Pendles and Swan is one of the best gut runners of the modern era.

All of these had an elite ability to win a contested ball, but what separated them from others was they also had something else to influence games.

I would hazard a guess external to North fans most AFL supporters would view each of Ziebell and Cunnington as good footballers. Not elite. None of the players mentioned above spring to mind with these two. I more think of Luke Ball, Jude Bolten, Brad Sewell and Scott Thompson. Very good players. Hall of Fame players of their respective clubs. But none of these was ever their sides best mid.

That's my point, if you can move Cunnington to find the next Bont in the top 5 of a draft its well worth it.
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Cunnington wouldn't get us a pick in the top 5 though, so your logic is flawed.
 
I wish there was some kinda ranking for the fastest players in the league. I would wager that we would have 2-3 players in the top 10 slowest blokes.

1. Cunnington
2. Swallow
3. McKenzie (gone now thank goodness)

These blokes look like they are running in Molasses. I will say that Swallow is quickish for the first 5 meters or so.
 
Cunnington makes up for his speed around the contest with his innate ability to create space for himself with a shimmy/fend off or by selling candy.

However, you can't make up that speed in anyway on the outside unless you have that ability to do pure gut running. Both Ziebell and Cunnington need to be able to find that extra 5-10% in their running in order to become better and more complete midfielders.
 
roos_fanatic08 said:
Cunnington makes up for his speed around the contest with his innate ability to create space for himself with a shimmy/fend off or by selling candy.

However, you can't make up that speed in anyway on the outside unless you have that ability to do pure gut running. Both Ziebell and Cunnington need to be able to find that extra 5-10% in their running in order to become better and more complete midfielders.
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Thanks Roosy. :thumbsu::p
 
LuvtheKangas said:
Trade Cunnington is sacrilege in my view. But I'm not going to have a go at you as there are plenty of North posters saying the same thing.

I am currently gathering as many eggs as I can because lots of faces will be needing them in the next 6-9 months. Hey, no need to thank me for that, I'm a community-minded guy.
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Spot on mate!
 
Donkey Chop said:
Anyone who thinks Cunnington doesn't have the ability to be elite needs to watch this vid. Sure he's slow and his year wasn't his best, but at his best he's ridiculous around congestion.

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He looks a lot lighter too in the vid. Its amazing how many of the teammates he gets the ball to are no longer a part of the side going into 2017.

As for Cunners, I have full confidence in his ability to return to that sort of output with a dramatic improvement in his fitness. The Cats game was like a handbrake on the rest of his season this year. He'll be back, and I think fatherhood will help him focus too.
 
Yep a definitely leaner looking Ben10 there, i do think that corky took a fair bit out of him in the cats game.
While he definitely wasn't in career best form he was doing much better prior to that.
Seems a few of our players had some injuries and from then on didn't seem right, look at Ben and goldy as good examples of that.
 
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