Versatile Swan Harry Cunningham has overcome an early season attack of the fumbles to hit form at the right time of the year and possibly earn another crack at shutting down North Melbourne star Brent Harvey.
Cunningham, who will line up against the Kangaroos in Saturday's semi-final in Sydney, played every game of the Swans 2014 campaign and won the club's Rising Star Award for that year.
He only played four of the first seven games of this season and appeared to have fallen down the pecking order on the deep Swans roster.
However, the speedy utility has played the last 16 games and is averaging a career-best season average of 15 disposals per match.
"I had a couple of inconsistencies in my game at the start of the year," Cunningham told AAP.
"I was probably just a bit fumbly at times during games, so I just went away and worked on that and then came back in.
"I've still been working hard on and off the track.
"Towards the end of the year is when you want to be playing good footy, so it's starting to pay off."
Cunningham has tagged Harvey in the past and did a good job on curtailing the veteran's influence in last year's preliminary final clash.
At least one other Swan would be very happy to see Cunningham get the job on Harvey again.
"I've tagged him (Harvey) a couple of times, that was back in my younger days," Swans' defender Rhyce Shaw said.
"But I leave it to Harry (Cunningham)and those type of guys that will take care of him hopefully this week."
At the age of 21 Cunningham has already played six finals games and brought up his 50th senior appearance in the final round match against Gold Coast.
He's happy to be a troubleshooter filling whatever role is assigned to him by coach John Longmire, though he wouldn't mind more time in the midfield.
"I don't really have a set position and the role has really changed week to week and it's probably a good thing," Cunningham said.
"It's probably easier to get picked when you can plug holes and play a variety of positions.
"I've played forward back and mid and I love getting those challenges and adapting to different roles every week."
Share
