After Sydney Swans missed out on a finals berth for the time since he was drafted to the club, Harry Cunningham is determined to help them rise back up the ladder.
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And quickly.
Groin surgery ended the Turvey Park product's season in July, but he's back fit and ready to fire this season.
The 26-year-old is pleased with his recovery.
"I've been training fully for a while now and I feel fit, strong and ready to go," Cunningham said.
"It's all about working on things we need to improve on both individually and as a team, stacking those sessions on top of each other, getting ready for the games and hitting the ground running."
With their early exit following the 15th place finish, it has been a longer pre-season than normal, but Cunningham is happy with the build up.
"It's been a bit of a longer one than what we would have liked after the end of the last year but we are right into the games and everything now," he said.
"We've had a really solid foundation set pre-Christmas and five weeks into the new year now and really ramping things up.
"I'm looking forward to the games, which come pretty quickly, and setting ourselves up for a big year."
The Swans finished the season with eight wins and 14 losses to their credit to miss the finals since 2009.
They failed to recover from a poor start, losing six of their first seven games, and one focus this pre-season has been trying to finish off better.
"You need to improve everything as if you are standing still you are getting left behind," Cunningham said.
"You need to improve all parts of the game but we probably lost too many games by under a goal or under 10 points last year so if we can really nail a few things towards either the end of quarters or the end of games it will go a long way to helping us play some really good footy.
Cunninghan has also been busy in the off-season as one of the ambassadors for Redkite.
The children's cancer charity has released a eBook For the love of bread which features the 26-year-old's vegemite and avo smash recipe.
Cunningham has been involved with the charity for the past five years through their links with the Swans and loves the opportunity to give back.
"I'm very grateful to be in partnership with Redkite to be able to give back," he said.
"I usually head to the Sydney Children's Hospital in Randwick and just visit the kids to take their mind off the tough battle they are going through at the period of their life.
"If a brother or sister is there they've generally been taken out of school as well so if we can provide a little bit of relief, it is very small in the scheme of things but putting smiles on faces in that tough period is what we are trying to do, as well as raising awareness and some much needed funds to help support Redkite to help support families who are going through such a tough time."
The eBook recognises the partnership Redkite has with Coles, where five cents from the sale of specially marked loaves of Coles Own Brand bread is donated to the charity.
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