The Swans star is coming to terms with life in isolation after the AFL suspended its season at the conclusion of the weekend's opening round due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The AFL season, at this stage, is suspended until May 31. Players were sent home from clubs on Monday as part of the shutdown.

Cunningham believes AFL players have an important role to play alongside fellow Australians.

"A few clubs are different but we're going to stay away from the club for a couple of weeks, four weeks at this stage, and do our own training away from the club," Cunningham explained.

"We'll just get into isolation...and help the community with what Australia is going through at the moment by playing our part, which is staying inside and staying away from each other."

Cunningham had gym equipment delivered to his home on Tuesday as he adjusts to the new normal.

"They've set up programs for everyone. This week we'll pretty much have off, recover from the game and recover from what's been a pretty hectic pre-season and then continue to do a bit of fitness," he said.

"The club's been great, they've sent a fair bit of gym equipment to my place in Sydney so I'll still be able to do a little bit on the balcony of my little apartment. We have a program to follow throughout that time so we stay on top of things, stay on top of injuries and stay fit so the club's been great to be able to give us some equipment, but also give us some information on what we need to do for the next couple of weeks."

Cunningham, a Turvey Park product, is one of three AFL Player's Association delegates at the Swans.

With the AFL set to lose millions and already standing down staff, he understands that players will have to 'share the load' in some form.

"It's a difficult one. Obviously everyone's going through it, which is my view, there's worse people off than me at the moment," he said.

"It's a pretty concerning and scary time for a lot of people, especially those at a higher risk of one, contracting the illness, but also being heavily affected from it. I'm pretty lucky to be in a low risk category at the moment and I'll play my part in the community and isolate, try to keep my loved one's safe, as well as everyone else around Australia.

"Yes it's concerning, and it's a tough situation but I'm still, at the end of the day, an AFL player and I'm still in a pretty good position compared to a lot of other people."

READ MORE

Those suffering acute, cold, flu-like symptoms who have recently returned from travelling or are a contact of a confirmed case are urged to be tested for the virus. To do this, call HealthDirect on 1800 0222 222 to be triaged and advised by a nurse over the phone. Alternatively, contact your GP to book an appointment and let them know in advance if you have symptoms - these might include fever, cough, runny nose or shortness of breath.

We have removed our paywall from our stories about coronavirus. This is a rapidly changing situation and we aim to make sure our readers are as informed as possible. If you would like to support our journalists you can subscribe here.