Cliff Lyons (born 19 October 1961) is an indigenous Australian former international
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A
Clive Churchill Medallist and two-time
Dally M Medallist, he made 309 first-grade appearances with the
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, winning grand finals with them in
1987
Events January
* January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency.
* January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade.
* January 3 – Afghan leader ...
and
1996
1996 was designated as:
* International Year for the Eradication of Poverty
Events January
* January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
. Lyons also represented
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
and
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, being part of the successful
1990 Kangaroo Tour of Great Britain and France
The 1990 Kangaroo Tour was the seventeenth Kangaroo Tour, where the Australian national rugby league team (known as the XXXX Kangaroos due to sponsorship reasons) travelled to Europe and played eighteen matches against British and French cl ...
.
Lyons, known as ''Napper'' or ''Cliffy'' to his mates, started his rugby league career playing forward, but was often moved into the role which is where he was considered to be at his best. It was at five-eighth that
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles coach
Bob Fulton started playing Lyons on a permanent basis. Lyons' success with the Sea Eagles, winning premierships in 1987 and 1996, saw him selected in the
Manly Sea Eagles 60th Anniversary Dream Team in 2006, being named on the bench of the 17-man line-up. He was notable for his elusive cross-field runs, creating doubt in the minds of defenders and setting up gaps for support players, most famously second-rower
Steve Menzies, to run back into.
Biography
Background
Born in
Narrandera, New South Wales on 19 October 1961, Lyons played junior rugby league with
Gundagai Tigers. As a teenager he moved to the
Cronulla district as a boarder from
Tregear near
Mount Druitt. Lyons was graded as a second rower with the
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in 1981. He played with the
Gundagai Tigers in the
Group 9 Group 9 may refer to:
* Group 9 element
* Group 9 Rugby League
*"Group 9", Australian arts collective, whose members included John Dowie
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