Two of his first six AFL games were finals. By the time he'd reached 31 games, an AFL grand final was among his five finals appearances.

It's a start to a career like that that makes a couple of years without finals feel like an eternity. Especially at Sydney, where the Swans had played in 15 of the last 16 finals series before 2019's 15^th place finish.

But Cunningham is confident the wheel is beginning to turn at Sydney. The Swans enjoyed an exciting night at the AFL Draft, where it ended up taking home two top five selections, and he believes there is plenty for Swans fans to look forward to over the next few years.

"Absolutely. Obviously we had a really good night on Draft night, got some really good kids in," Cunningham said.

"I've already met them, I jumped into training the other week and met them and they seem like really humble, down to earth kids, who want to get stuck into it. I've seen a couple of those Academy boys and met them before along the way so we've got a couple of ripping kids coming in and then we've got a lot of games into those young guys who are around that 22 and under mark too. They've all played their 30 to 60 games now.

"That gives me a lot of excitement and hopefully it does for the team as well, especially with how we performed the back half of last year. Hopefully the fans can see that we're moving forward and like most people say at this time of year, getting ready to get stuck back into it again. It's pretty exciting times."

While Cunningham says he was lucky to have experienced finals so early in his career, the Turvey Park junior admits he is now fed up with life outside the top eight.

"I've been pretty blessed and pretty grateful to be able to play some finals footy, especially early in my career and then we haven't played finals the last two years," he said.

"The feeling amongst the footy club and the group is we're sick of that, we're here to play finals footy and win games of footy so it's pretty exciting to be able to go into next year.

"It's like another fresh start, you get to go into it again after missing out again next year, which is obviously disappointing but really looking forward to head down bum up working hard in pre-season and coming out and winning games of footy and playing finals footy because, like I said, you play footy to win, we've had two years of not making finals and enough's enough I think."

It has been well-documented the 2020 AFL season was like no other.

The majority of the AFL clubs were forced to Queensland inside hubs as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on life right across the world.

Some clubs in the AFL handled it better than others. Cunningham believes the Swans adjusted well, finishing the year much better than they started.

The 27-year-old also performed well, highlighted by his fifth-place finish in the Swans' best and fairest.

"I was a little bit surprised with it. I had a bit of an inconsistent year," he said.

"I was lucky, I did well to play every game and keep on top of my body. It was a strange year, a different year, but I think the group was able to adapt pretty well. I played some good footy at times and then some not so good footy but I think overall it wasn't too bad.

"I'd obviously like to be playing finals footy again so that's the goal to start with heading into next year but it was a bit of a strange year but I think I contributed both on and off the field, which is what you want to do."

While many AFL players struggled to adjust to life in the hub, Cunningham concedes it was not always easy but chose to take a positive outlook on things.

"Yeah it was pretty difficult. I guess we were pretty lucky in a sense, in two ways. We only spent eight to nine weeks in the hub, where the Melbourne clubs spent over 100 days. And then I was also lucky that I was able to continue to do what we love," he said.

"A lot of people in the community have had tough years, been made redundant or laid off, we were just pretty happy and lucky to be able to continue to play and give the fans something to watch over the weekend. In that sense, you look back and you're pretty grateful for it.

"It was probably harder on partners as well. You go away from your family for eight to nine weeks and they've got to hold everything up and stuff like that.

"I was pretty lucky and grateful, we had a really good time in the hub and I think that's what helped us play good footy in the back end of the year, getting a bit closer together and I reckon we can build on that heading into next year."

Being versatile in his ability to perform a number of roles has always been one of Cunningham's strengths and that was again evident this year when he found himself in defence for the majority of the season.

Cunningham believes that is where his immediate future lies as the Swans begin their quest to return to finals football.

"I think so. I've chopped and changed a lot. I think I started on the wing last year but with a few injuries and how the team looked, I had a chat to Horse (John Longmire) about it and I said I think we can lock me in down back to play a few games there," he said.

"I started well and then we created some really good synergy with the back group. I think there was about six to eight of us who played pretty consistent footy and regular footy. I think it's important to be able to build that synergy amongst your group, or your forwards, backs, mids groups and I think that's one thing we did really well was the defending six to eight players played some consistent footy.

"As a back six you want to play good footy and be pretty stingy at times and we were able to do that I think and hopefully we can continue to build that. We've got a nice bond and good synergy now so I think at the moment it will stay there and we've got some really good young guys like Dylan Stephens and Justin McInerney coming through on the wings anyway so as they continue to develop it will make Horse's match committee a little easier."

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