Despite finding some of the best form of his career this season, Ben Cunnington’s main priorities were away from the football field.  

In May, the midfielder’s father was involved in an accident on the family’s dairy farm which saw him spend 11 days in a coma. Suffering a severe infection, his loved ones were unsure if he’d pull through.

“I suppose at the time, footy wasn’t really even on my mind to be honest,” Cunnington told NMFC.com.au.

“Seeing what dad was going through and relating that back to footy, you can’t really compare.

“When you are at the club you say ‘everything’s for North’, which it is, but when it comes to your family, they’re number one. You don’t realise until you’ve been put in that position, and unfortunately we did get put in that position, but we all stayed strong.”

It’s been a challenging recovery process, but back by his dad Alan’s side Cunnington says the experience has taught him a valuable lesson.

“I’ve got my old man sitting next to me in the car at the minute, we’re going fishing… so even little things like that you make the most of everything while you’re together.

“You can take things for granted, but when you get shaken up like that it changes the way you do things. Our family now, we’re more open about loving each other and making the most of everything.”

A new perspective on life in general is something that will hold the 22-year-old in good stead on the field.

“When you think times are tough or you have a bad game or something, you just relax a bit more, enjoy your footy and make it last while you can,” he added.

“Even as an extended family at North, the footy club have been great to me, they gave me a bit of time off when I needed it and I couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out. Thankfully we’re through to the better end now.”

Looking fitter than ever, Cunnington’s pre-season campaign on the track has been just as impressive as his maturity and composure off the field. In preparation for next season, his aerobic capacity and strength are reaching new levels.

“For myself, I feel my running has improved a lot. It’s still a bit off the AFL midfield standard I guess, but I’ve come a long way and it’s definitely getting better.

“It is a bit of a balancing act, trying to get your weight and strength to compliment your running and fitness. I’ve noticed that the work in the gym has helped my strength on the field, which is the most important thing.”

Somewhat of a clearance king this year, Cunnington has taken ownership of his role and is feeling more settled than ever in North’s midfield.

“For myself, that (clearances) is the main part of my game. That’s where I try to do most of the work to feed the ball out to Shaun Atley, Gibbo (Gibson) and other guys like that.

“With me, Jack, Andrew (Swallow), Wellsy and Basti (Bastinac) in the middle, it’s a pretty good group coming through. And Goldy who is one of the elite hit-out players in the competition; whoever’s the target, we have great confidence in them winning that.”

Cunnington is determined to have more team success next season after the disappointment of missing finals.

“Everyone knows there were too many games we let slip by but the guys are really excited to get back and they’re working really hard to make sure that doesn’t happy next season,” he said.

“We want to make sure we step it up and win those close games and improve on where we let ourselves down. We’re not young anymore… we’ve worked together and played under Brad for a few years now so we know the game-plan, we know how where we’re heading together.

“We all know our individual roles now, so if we continue to play like that and build together we’ll be hard to stop.”

It’s been an intense pre-season so far and the Christmas break has come at just the right time for the group.

“It will be nice to relax and let all our hard work sink in a bit. I’m really excited to spend time with the family and go fishing.

“We’ll come back recharged for the last part of the pre-season, before games start in no time.”