Swallow had been the Roos' midfield leader for almost five seasons when he ruptured his left Achilles tendon against Melbourne in round 18 last year.
In that time, he had won three best and fairest awards and shouldered the bulk of the Roos' inside midfield load.
His absence put a lot of pressure on North's remaining midfielders to pick up his slack.
Cunnington told the AFL Record he had felt that pressure, but had relished it.
"I felt I had to step up with one of our best midfielders being out, I felt the responsibility to step up," Cunnington said.
"But, honestly, I took great pride in it, I was excited about it.
"I reckon it brought a bit better footy out of me, to step up and take charge."
Certainly, Cunnington was the Roos' dominant on-baller during the seven games that Swallow ultimately missed, averaging 24.6 possessions a game, 7.6 clearances and 6.4 tackles.
He starred in North's win over Port Adelaide and its away victories over the Sydney Swans and Fremantle, and was one of the few Roos to fly the flag in their losses to Collingwood and Gold Coast.
Cunnington puts his strong start to the season down to improved fitness, experience, greater confidence and feeling more at home with his place in the Roos' team: "Just heaps of little things," he says.
As impressive as his start to 2014 has been, Cunnington has been a bit quieter over the past month.
But the Roo has not been guilty of resting on his laurels. He, more than anyone, thinks he can still improve "a fair bit".
"I believe my marking has still got to come into the game, my goalkicking and, as I keep going on, I hope to get more outside ball," he says.
"I feel I've still got a bit of a way to go with my inside game as well.
"So I feel as though I've still got a lot to show and prove – that's exciting and keeps me motivated."
Read the full story in this week's AFL Record, which is available at all grounds.
