A healthy mop of brilliant blond hair might have made more impact than the Western Bulldog's early performances, but Cooney has amassed 69 touches in the past three weeks, and claimed the Rising Star award for his best on ground match against the Kangaroos in round 21.
Now sporting a shorter, natural auburn hairdo, the 18-year-old admits to feeling a sense of relief that his debut year is almost over.
"I think there's always a bit of added pressure on the number one draft pick to, I suppose, come straight in and perform," Cooney said on Tuesday.
"I suppose it took me a while to get into it, but it's good that I'm starting to get a bit of the footy. And to finally get this award has been pretty good."
Cooney averaged around 10 possessions in the opening eight weeks of the season before being demoted to the VFL for a match and, later, a further fortnight. This lean mid-season period was a low point for the South Australian, who despite playing senior footy in the SANFL competition last year was struggling to adjust to the AFL pace.
"It wasn't home sickness or anything like that, it's just when you're playing bad footy it's no good."
"You come into the club and when you've had a few losses in a row and you're not playing good footy it doesn’t look too good. But it's been really good the second part of year."
"I was getting out on the field and I wasn’t getting near it. I had a stint back at Werribee, which was good for me, just to play, because it had been a while since I'd played a full game."
Upon reflection, Cooney says he was not fit enough from the outset of the season. He has since worked with assistant coach Chris Bond and after notching 18 games is anticipating a exhaustive pre-season under in-coming coach Rodney Eade.
"I don’t think I was at the (required) level of fitness, and as soon as I got here I realised that."
"I probably should have worked a bit harder before I got drafted."
