Harry Cunningham could so easily have been a GWS player. He was a Wagga boy zoned to the Giants ahead of their entry to the AFL in 2012 and part of their Academy. All they had to do was say ‘yes’ at the right time through the formation period.
They said ‘yes’ to a dozen 17-year-olds too young for the 2010 draft, 16 players from NSW/ACT, 11 picks in the first 14 in the national draft, eight out-of-contract players from other clubs, some rookie picks and a couple of previously nominated players. And a State of Origin rugby league player.
They listed 49 players and played 46 in their first year. Eight played fewer than 10 games, and a further 13 played less than 20. But there was no Cunningham. He was not required.
Fast forward 14 years and Cunningham is poised to become the 36th player to post 200 games for the Swans against Brisbane at the Gabba on Sunday.
It’s been a story of sheer hard work and exceptional resilience since the Swans had second call on the fleet-footed midfielder from the Turvey Park Bulldogs as a NSW zone selection ahead of the 2010 draft.
He’d starred for NSW/ACT at the national Under-18 championships, so it was a ‘yes’ from them.
Locked into the Swans before the rookie draft but officially listed as pick #93, Cunningham was one of seven newcomers to the club for coach John Longmire’s second season in 2012 after the club had been eliminated in week two of the 2011 finals.
They’d traded in Tony Armstrong from Adelaide, Mitch Morton from Richmond and Tommy Walsh from St Kilda, and took three players in the draft – father/son choice Tom Mitchell from Claremont (WAFL) at #21, Jordan Lockyer from West Perth (WAFL) at #43 and Alex Brown from the Oakleigh Chargers at #61. Cunningham was seventh choice.
Yet when the Swans and the Giants opened the 2012 season in a standalone Round 1 fixture at the Olympic Stadium in front of 38,203 on the night of Saturday 24 March, Cunningham was the only one of the newcomers in the side.
Coached at the GWS Academy by Swans legend Paul Kelly, Cunningham was the starting substitute and played 20 per cent game time for four kicks, two marks and one tackle after replacing 19-year-old 14th-gamer Luke Parker in a 63-point win.
It was his only game in 2012 but was the beginning of one of the great stories in football.
At Sydney longer than all but 2010 debutants Luke Parker and Sam Reid of the current playing list, Cunningham has already played more than twice as many games in red and white as the six players picked up ahead of him in 2011 combined – Mitchell (65), Armstrong (15), Morton (12), Walsh (5), Lockyer (0) and Brown (0) – although Morton did play a key cameo role in the 2012 flag.
Taking his time to settle in AFL company, Cunningham played five of a possible 50 games in 2012-13, but from 2014-23 played 25-21-18-11-23-9-17-21-10-24 games. And 14 of 15 this year before a hamstring injury delayed his double century.
In that time, he’s missed 31 games through injury – 28 in four long-term lay-offs and four with Covid. He was a non-playing emergency 14 times and has played eight times in the Reserves.
But to outsiders Cunningham’s long-term future at the end of 2022 was a little uncertain. He’d played the first seven AFL games of that year, missed the next five through injury, played one, missed two through Covid, and was the medical sub in Round 17-19 for limited game time and a total of eight possessions.
He watched the last eight games as Sydney went all the way to the grand final, and with the club’s heavy influx of high-end young talent there were people suggesting his opportunities at AFL level would be limited. But they could not have been more wrong.
In 2023 he played every game – his fourth full season after similar efforts in 2014, ’18 and ‘20 - and finished 10th in voting for the Bob Skilton Medal. It was his fourth top 10 finish after he was 10th 2014 and 2018, and 5th in 2020 behind only Jake Lloyd, Luke Parker, Tom Papley and Dane Rampe.
Given pre-season expectations it was an outstanding achievement, which made him an automatic pick in the opening round of the 2024 season. And this year he’s played every week when available as one of the “senior citizens”.
Dane Rampe, born in 1990 and recently turned 34, is the Swans oldest player, but below him is a cluster of Luke Parker, born in 1992, and the 1993 quartet of Jake Lloyd and Taylor Adams, both born on 20 September, Robbie Fox and Cunningham.
Cunningham’s 200th game will be his 199th in jumper #7 after he’d worn #44 in his first and only game in 2012. He’s closing in on the #7 club record held by Dennis Carroll at 207.
Only Carroll, Cunningham, Gary Brice (171) and Mick Sibun (111) have played 100 games in #7, which was first worn in red and white in 1912 by Bob Deas, a member of the 1909 premiership team.
With a career-high of 30 possessions against Richmond at Marvel Stadium in 2019, when he was one of six Swans with 30-plus in a 22-point loss, and a best of four goals against Gold Coast at Carrara in his 17th game in 2014, Cunningham was the fourth of what is now six players from the Turvey Park Bulldogs to play in the AFL.
Jason Mooney, who played 97 games with Sydney before 32 games with Geelong, was the first in 1992, followed by Mark Pitura, son of ex-Sydney and Richmond star John Pitura, who played two games at Richmond in 1993, and Cameron Mooney, who in 1999 began what became a 221-game career at North Melbourne and Geelong.
There was 13 years to Cunningham in 2012 and a further 12 years to two Turvey Park products who have debuted this year – Fremantle’s Patrick Voss, originally drafted to Essendon, and GWS’ Harvey Thomas, who is the Wagga flagship Cunningham could have been.
Cunningham will be the 21st player from the draft pool of 2011 to 200 games and will reach his double century three years and 66 days after Brandon Ellis, originally drafted to Richmond, was the first to do so playing with Gold Coast in Round 8, 2021.
In a measure of the Cunningham resilience, he played his 138th game on the same weekend.
Curiously, it’s turned out to be a draft where the most prolific players were hugely spread.
Dayne Zorko, a 2010 Gold Coast zone concession traded to Brisbane, heads the Class of 2011 games list with 267 – five clear of teammate Lachie Neale, originally pick #58 to Fremantle, and Geelong’s rookie pick #54 Mark Blicavs.
There are five first-round picks on the 200-game list – GWS pick #2 Stephen Coniglio (213), Port Adelaide/Hawthorn pick #6 Chad Wingard (218), GWS pick #7 Nick Haynes (210), GWS pick #11 Toby Greene (230) and pick #15 Ellis (251).
In the next tier is ex-Swan Mitchell, a father/son choice at #21 (203 games), St Kilda pick #25 Seb Ross (211), Brisbane/West Coast pick #30 Elliot Yeo (206), Hawthorn/Fremantle/St Kilda pick #33 Brad Hill (248) and retired St Kilda/Carlton pick #37 Jack Newnes (207).
Rory Laird, rookie pick #5 to Adelaide, has played 241 games, and Jack Crisp, rookie pick 40 to Brisbane and now at Collingwood, has played 243 games.
And then there are five GWS concession picks who are now at other clubs: Adam Treloar (Western Bulldogs) has played 247 games, Jeremy Cameron (Geelong) is at 246, Taylor Adams (Sydney) at 219, Will Hoskin-Elliott (Collingwood) at 218, and Dylan Shiel (Essendon) is at 214.
Cunningham will be the fifth oldest of the 2011 200-gamers behind Zorko, Haynes, Ross and Mitchell, and go into his 200th with a win/loss ratio of 60.8 per cent that is third best in this draft pool behind only Blicavs (67.2 per cent) and Hill (61.0 per cent).
Significantly, too, he’s one of only seven one-club players in the group, with Blicavs, Laird, Ross, Zorko, Coniglio, Greene and Haynes. Hill, Mitchell and Treloar are three-club players.
And finally, Cunningham will be the 36th Swans 200 gamer 106 years after the legendary Vic Belcher was the first in the 1918 grand final. And he’ll be the 28th since the club’s move to Sydney after just eight reached this milestone in the club’s first 85 years.
Swans 200th Game Highlights
Individually and statistically, Dennis Carroll, Kieren Jack, Bob Skilton, Brett Kirk, Adam Goodes and Ryan O’Keefe have most enjoyed their 200th games.
From available data, Carroll and Jack are the only pair to poll three Brownlow votes in their 200th game. Carroll did so against Richmond at the SCG in 1991 when he had 31 possessions and Jack polled three votes against Geelong at Kardinia Park in 2016 for his 24 possessions and three goals.
Carroll’s 31 possessions is a record for a Sydney player in his 200th game, with Bob Skilton’s 30 possessions in his 200th in 1970 the only other recorded game of 30-plus, and Jack’s three goals was a club record for a 200th-gamer at the time, and was later equalled by Josh Kennedy in 2018.
Brett Kirk polled two votes when he notched up 27 possessions in a 21-point loss to Fremantle at Subiaco in 2009, while Adam Goodes picked up one vote in a 28-point SCG win over Fremantle in 2007, and Ryan O’Keefe one vote in a four-point MCG loss to Richmond in 2010.
Meanwhile, Paul Kelly enjoyed the biggest win among Swans 200th-gamers when they beat West Coast by 71 points at the SCG in 2000.
