Cunnington - under the radar and under the veil

[Bald]

Fantastic player. Would be one of my first picked if I was picking a side to win a grand final.

 

[AnEmptyChair]

Everything have seen of cunners this year makes me hope he gets into developing or coaching young players one day.

Absolutely no chance. In a Q&A with him earlier in the year he said that once he's finished playing he's moving to the farm permanently and no one will probably ever hear from him again.

 

[Cotchins Hair Piece]

Fantastic player. Would be one of my first picked if I was picking a side to win a grand final.

Good call. Mine would be Josh Schache though.

 

[Bald]

Good call. Mine would be Josh Schache though.

Ok.

 

[Heavy B]

 

[WowWeee]

I was listening to a podcast couple of years ago where Pendles was talking about Cunners. Pendles reckon you cant move the bloke at stoppages because he's that strong lol, also thinks he has the best fend off in the game.

 

[blitzer]

Honestly think he's rated pretty fairly. He's been around forever, everyone knows he's a great player at winning contested ball, has a great fend off and very good skills and vision with his handballs. That said he's pretty limited in terms of his athletic ability and so he can't really find ball on the outside or defend very well. He isn't a threat on the scoreboard either.

Basically he's seperated from the true stars of the game by not having enough strings to his bow. Also historically he's probably been about 5 possessions a game behind the most prolific mids. The highest he's ever averaged is this season with 26.8 disposals a game. Its very good but its not elite.

 

[Jobe Watson]

Elite clearance midfielder, but just a solid B-grade player overall. Never really been in that top bracket of players.

 

[Brad Goodman]

I was listening to a podcast couple of years ago where Pendles was talking about Cunners. Pendles reckon you cant move the bloke at stoppages because he's that strong lol, also thinks he has the best fend off in the game.

There was that game at Marvel a couple of years ago where North, led by Cunnington, just pulverised Collingwood, like pretty much ground us into the dirt. I’ve never seen a team in premiership contention (as we were at the time) get physically dominated like that.

I remember that pod, and I reckon Pendles had that game in mind when he was talking about it.

 

[Sphynx]

Honestly think he's rated pretty fairly. He's been around forever, everyone knows he's a great player at winning contested ball, has a great fend off and very good skills and vision with his handballs. That said he's pretty limited in terms of his athletic ability and so he can't really find ball on the outside or defend very well. He isn't a threat on the scoreboard either.

Basically he's seperated from the true stars of the game by not having enough strings to his bow. Also historically he's probably been about 5 possessions a game behind the most prolific mids. The highest he's ever averaged is this season with 26.8 disposals a game. Its very good but its not elite.

He's kicked double digit goals in 7 of his 11 seasons.

He could play FF, there's also the story of his senior debut for Cobden vs Camperdown as a 15 year old, when he came on at half time and kicked 10 in the second half from FF. He was also a 1.5 goal a game player at u/18 level where he played more forward for the Falcons.

He's an extremely strong overhead mark and a dangerous forward when he ever plays there. (Which I imagine is going to be quite a bit more with the strength and depth of midfielders we will have in the next few years)

 

[Osho]

Honestly think he's rated pretty fairly. He's been around forever, everyone knows he's a great player at winning contested ball, has a great fend off and very good skills and vision with his handballs. That said he's pretty limited in terms of his athletic ability and so he can't really find ball on the outside or defend very well. He isn't a threat on the scoreboard either.

Basically he's seperated from the true stars of the game by not having enough strings to his bow. Also historically he's probably been about 5 possessions a game behind the most prolific mids. The highest he's ever averaged is this season with 26.8 disposals a game. Its very good but its not elite.

That is a pov that many have. What I think is special about him is his decision-making and effective disposals from extremely tight situations. He lacks glamour, and that is part of his own glamour.

 

[B4Bear]

Best handball I have seen since Barry Cable.

 

[Guardian Hawk]

Best handball I have seen since Barry Cable.

As good as he is, that's going too far IMO (or do you mean by a North Melbourne player?)

Because Diesel Williams was definately a better handballer than Cunnington in my view. Sam Mitchell too. Hell, even Clayton Oliver's "fast hands" I'd have ahead.

of North Melbounre players, I'd reckon it's a pretty good call.

Powerful, contested beast with brilliant hands.

 

[B4Bear]

As good as he is, that's going too far IMO (or do you mean by a North Melbourne player?)

Because Diesel Williams was definately a better handballer than Cunnington in my view. Sam Mitchell too. Hell, even Clayton Oliver's "fast hands" I'd have ahead.

of North Melbounre players, I'd reckon it's a pretty good call.

Powerful, contested beast with brilliant hands.

Definitely North's and with my obvious biases I think he is certainly in the conversation with the names you mentioned.

Either way, he has been joy to watch for so long now.

 

[susurrar]

if anythings underrated about his game it would be his kicking and to a lesser extent his contested marking.

he has always had tidy foot skills, but something changed this year. he was in a different mindset. confident. his kicking became extremely damaging. penetrating bullets and deftly weighted floating passes that most other players wouldnt even see or attempt. it was quite remarkable. if you didnt see much north this year, youre probably scratching your head reading those descriptions.

his marking has always been a feature of his game. he regularly outmarks bigger opponents in pretty amusing fashion.

 

[shintemaster]

if anythings underrated about his game it would be his kicking and to a lesser extent his contested marking.

he has always had tidy foot skills, but something changed this year. he was in a different mindset. confident. his kicking became extremely damaging. penetrating bullets and deftly weighted floating passes that most other players wouldnt even see or attempt. it was quite remarkable. if you didnt see much north this year, youre probably scratching your head reading those descriptions.

his marking has always been a feature of his game. he regularly outmarks bigger opponents in pretty amusing fashion.

The game style we are implementing suits players like Cunnington to a tee. His real strengths - besides the phsyical - is in his exceptional vision in traffic and ability to dispose creatively by foot or hand with extreme accuracy. These type of players flourish in faster moving open game styles IMO because they have the creativity to see options that others can't and to hit them as well.

 

[Ambrosia]

He's kicked double digit goals in 7 of his 11 seasons.

He could play FF, there's also the story of his senior debut for Cobden vs Camperdown as a 15 year old, when he came on at half time and kicked 10 in the second half from FF. He was also a 1.5 goal a game player at u/18 level where he played more forward for the Falcons.

He's an extremely strong overhead mark and a dangerous forward when he ever plays there. (Which I imagine is going to be quite a bit more with the strength and depth of midfielders we will have in the next few years)

Big Cunnington fan but I doubt he ever spends much time forward.

You’re right he’s strong overhead for his size but that’s about his only real stand attribute as a forward. I can’t think of any capable small to medium forwards who are anywhere near as slow as him which is compounded by his average tank.

That being said if his back holds up I don’t see any reason he can’t keep playing well into his early 30s like Kennedy from the Swans.

 

[fusion]

Superb vision and execution, finding a team-mate clear in the centre...

Just kicked it the wrong way!

Cunnington kicks the wrong way in brain fade

Ben Cunnington had the ball in his hands near his forward 50 but decided to bomb it in the opposite direction

www.afl.com.au

I was actually looking for his pass this season inside 50m that set up a goal to a team-mate who was running forward. I think Brereton or whoever was commentating couldn't believe how good it was.

 

[Rooboys Rool]

Superb vision and execution, finding a team-mate clear in the centre...

Just kicked it the wrong way!

Cunnington kicks the wrong way in brain fade

Ben Cunnington had the ball in his hands near his forward 50 but decided to bomb it in the opposite direction

www.afl.com.au

I was actually looking for his pass this season inside 50m that set up a goal to a team-mate who was running forward. I think Brereton or whoever was commentating couldn't believe how good it was.

I think you're thinking of the pass to Stephenson against West Coast. Was brilliant.

 

[DarwinRoo]

As good as he is, that's going too far IMO (or do you mean by a North Melbourne player?)

Because Diesel Williams was definately a better handballer than Cunnington in my view. Sam Mitchell too. Hell, even Clayton Oliver's "fast hands" I'd have ahead.

of North Melbounre players, I'd reckon it's a pretty good call.

Powerful, contested beast with brilliant hands.

Oliver is not a better handballer than Cunnington. He just handballed a lot because he was a garbage kick.

 

[Rod Stroker]

I think the latest edition of the dictionary has a picture of him next to the entry for ‘no-nonsense’.

This for me is the lasting image of season 2021. The realisation that we'd won the flag!

 

[Rod Stroker]

There was that game at Marvel a couple of years ago where North, led by Cunnington, just pulverised Collingwood, like pretty much ground us into the dirt. I’ve never seen a team in premiership contention (as we were at the time) get physically dominated like that.

I remember that pod, and I reckon Pendles had that game in mind when he was talking about it.

Was that the game in 2018 I think when Maj took mark of the year?