When Harry Cunningham joined the Sydney Swans, he expected his first year to be jam-packed with gruelling training sessions, team meetings and match preparations.

He never imagined he’d be whipping up omelettes, cooking stir fries and perfecting pumpkin soup.

Cunningham, along with the other members of the Swans development group, have been taking part in cooking classes with club chef Courtney Roulston and Swans dietician Lorraine Cullen.

The group have been learning how to cook and prepare nutritious meals, and are developing skills to ensure they are following a balanced diet throughout the season.

“It’s been pretty educational because for a lot of us boys it’s our first year out of home. Personally, I didn’t know how to cook until I came up here,” Cunningham said.

“We’ve learnt how to do pumpkin soups, some omelettes, some stir fries and everything they have taught us is unbelievable.”

Cunningham’s cooking skills have come in handy, thanks to fellow Swans Nathan Gordon and Dylan McNeil implementing an at-home cooking rotation.

“We take it in turns and we’ve got this little rotation going because there’s three of us, so one night one person will cook and someone else will do the dishes and it just goes in a three-way rotation,” he said.

“They had to teach me how to cook. I think it was my second night in the house and they said it was my night to cook and I didn’t know what to do.

“I got my mum to teach me how to make the lasagne because we love it at home, and eat it every weekend before a game as well.

“Nathan also taught me how to do potato salad, which is just the best and is pretty easy to do and is pretty much always our side dish.”

Club dietician Cullen said the cooking classes are all about instilling the confidence to cook in the club’s youngest players.

“The first year players are the youngest in the squad and most of them have either come from being looked after by their parents, or just generally don’t have much cooking skills or even kitchen skills,” she said.

“It’s just about building their confidence in the kitchen and really just trying to limit their need to eat out or go to restaurants.

“It’s about giving them the skills to be able to fend for themselves.”

Cullen said it was important from a nutritional point of view that Swans players are fuelling their bodies correctly after match days or training sessions.

“It’s usually something that they don’t really think about, and then when they don’t plan or don’t have the skills it can quite obviously show in their training and their professionalism because they may not be fuelling themselves properly at home,” she said

“The guys are spending so much energy, and not just training but also going to meetings and doing recovery that they are tired and they can’t be bothered to cook, so it’s about making it really quick and simple for them at home.

“You sometimes find that when some of the guys start up at the club they might lose weight, because when they were back at home they could just look in the fridge to find food, but now they have to look after themselves.”

Cullen added that just to make sure the players are getting the right balance, the club puts on two lunches throughout the week to aid nutrition and recovery.

“The cooking and feeding themselves is just a small part for teenagers who come to the club in their first year,” she said.

“That’s why we do the lunches here at the club, just to make sure that they are all recovering and are also getting a couple of quality meals during the week.”