Second year player Ben Cunnington is regarded by many as being one of the most professional young footballers in recent memory.
This is his blog written exclusively for kangaroos.com.au which gives readers a unique insight into what it’s like to play in one of the toughest competitions in the world.
Bench. Wing. Mid-forward. Key-forward. Midfield. Half-back. That was my game against Carlton on Friday night. Never have I had to play so many different positions in one match in my life. Looking back on it, I actually enjoyed my footy. After being out of the team for three or so weeks, it was just awesome to be back in the side on the biggest night of the week for the AFL.
I started on Heath Scotland on a wing and also had some time on David Ellard, who is the spitting image of Ben Speight. They even wear the same number. I had to go one on one with them everywhere they went but also had to try and beat them to the footy when it was my turn to go.
When Drew took that hanger in the second quarter, we went back to the wing and Ellard looked over at me and said, ‘Geez, that was a nice mark!’. I replied, ‘Yeah, he’s a freak…he does it at training all the time.’ Those kind of moments are rare, usually you are just trying to bash the crap out of each other.
After a bit of time on the wing, I was switched to a mid-forward, key-forward role. This was due to the fact that I had played there a bit in my junior days and more recently in the VFL. I wandered down to our forward line and joined Drew Petrie, Cam Pedersen and Aaron Edwards. When one of them came off, I took their spot on the ground. My first taste of the action in the forward line was a mark just inside fifty off the boot of Jack Ziebell. Ziebs and I looked at each other, but he was facing the wrong way…he went for this backwards, sideways, inside-out, banana, barrel sort of kick. Somehow it hit me right on the chest. I’d love to say he pulled it out of his rear, but he honestly saw me just before he kicked it. So I was about 45 or 50 metres out and I thought it was right on my range-limit. That’s when I spotted Boomer in the pocket and he took the mark, used the umpire to shield him and snapped a goal around the body. (Watch the passage of play below)
.jpg) |
From that end of the ground to other - I found myself at half-back in the final fifteen minutes of the final term. This is where I felt I had my biggest impact. The game was in the balance and I was able to take a few marks playing on Eddie Betts after Scotty Thompson went to Andrew Walker. I honestly didn’t even think about the fact that he’d kicked eight goals the previous week, I was more worried about his pace.
When the ball was on the wing, Betts and I were on the opposite wing running back to the goals and I was aware that the Blues would try and kick the ball over the back. If I allowed it to turn into a foot race, it wouldn’t have been good. I tried to get a couple of metres ahead of him and watched Bettsy and the ball-carrier. It came in long and I braced myself for a little nudge in the back but managed to hold my position and juggle a mark. It was a good result because there was no-one between us and the goals. (Watch the passage of play below)
 |
I was as disappointed as anyone with the result, but to the boys credit, we gave a good fight.
For me, I enjoyed my footy and had fun out there. A few weeks in the VFL has helped me and my confidence was up. Although I didn’t have a heap of the ball, I was comfortable out there and am now heavily focused on getting through a tough week on the track before taking on the Hawks in Tassie.
