Jamie Lyon
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Jamie Lyon (born 24 January 1982), also known by the
nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...
of "Killer", is an Australian former professional
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 2000s and 2010s. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative goal-kicking , he played his first club football for the
Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...
before joining
Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...
with English club St. Helens, with whom he won the 2006 Championship and
Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...
titles. Lyon then returned to the NRL with Manly Warringah, winning the
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and
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...
s with them. Originally a five-eighth, he switched to the centre position in 2009 and was regarded as one of the best centres in the game, winning the Dally M Centre of the year in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014,
RLIF The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. The IRL organises the Rugby League World Cup, the oldest international rugby World Cup, as well as the Women's and Wheelchair equivalent. ...
Centre of the Year in 2011 and 2013, and Dally M Captain of the Year (along with co-captain Jason King) in 2012 and again in 2014 individually. In 2016, he became the fourth player (after
Ryan Girdler Ryan Girdler (born 19 September 1972) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australia international representative goal-kicking centre, he played ...
, Hazem El Masri and Luke Burt) to score 100 tries and 500 goals.


Early life

Born in
Narrabri Narrabri ( ) is a locality and seat of Narrabri Shire Local government in Australia, local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Hi ...
in north-central
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 ...
on 24 January 1982 and growing up in Wee Waa, New South Wales, Lyon played junior rugby league for the Wee Waa Panthers. Selected to play for the Australian Schoolboys team, while attending Parramatta Marist High School he was part of the 1999 squad who went undefeated in their tour of France, Ireland and England.
Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...
' club development officer at the time,
Noel Cleal Noel Harvey "Crusher" Cleal (born 16 October 1958) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. A destructive for the Manly Sea Eagles, he also represented New South Wales in the State of Origin Series and the Austra ...
, saw potential in the young centre and managed to lure Lyon to sign with the Sydney club.


Professional playing career


Parramatta (2000 to 2004)

Lyon made his
NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
début coming off the bench in the Eels' round 21 clash against the newly merged
Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers is an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West of Sydney and South Western Sydney. The Tigers have competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since being formed at the end of the 1999 N ...
on 25 June 2000 becoming the 622nd first grader for Parramatta in the process. He scored his first try just three rounds later and he finished his début season with a try in Parramatta's 32–24 victory over the
St George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...
. In 2001, Lyon found himself regularly in the run-on squad. By season's end Parramatta took out the J. J. Giltinan Shield as the
minor premiers A minor premiership is the title given to the team which finishes a sporting competition first in the league standings after the regular season but prior to commencement of the finals in several Australian sports leagues. Origins The etymology ...
thanks in part to Lyon's 11 tries. After defeating the
New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...
and the
Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...
in the qualifying and preliminary finals respectively, Parramatta fell just short of becoming premiers losing to the
Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...
in 2001 NRL Grand Final, in which Lyon played at centre, scoring two tries. At the end of the
2001 NRL season The 2001 NRL season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fourth run by the National Rugby League. Also called the 2001 Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation) it was contested ...
, Lyon became the 697th player to represent Australia when he made his national representative début in the test match at Lloyd Robson Oval,
Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...
against
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
where he scored two tries off the bench. Later that year, he became the youngest-ever Kangaroo tourist when he was selected for the 2001 Kangaroo Tour. The start of the 2002 NRL season started off well for Lyon, and he made his New South Wales Blues début in Game I of the
2002 State of Origin series The 2002 State of Origin series saw the 21st time that the annual three-game series between the Queensland and New South Wales representative rugby league football teams was played entirely under ' state of origin' selection rules. It was the s ...
, scoring a try in 32–4 points victory. He played again in Game II of the series however an ankle injury that was sustained in the Eels round 14 match against the defending premiers, found Lyon out for the remainder of the season. In June 2002, he extended his contract with the Parramatta club until the end of 2006 at around $250,000 per season. Lyon made his return in Round 1 of the 2003 NRL season. Starting off well again, he scored four tries in four games. That year, he played in all three games for the
Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
in their 2–1 2003 State of Origin series victory. A
hamstring A hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in human anatomy between the hip and the knee: from medial to lateral, the semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris. Etymology The word " ham" is derived from the Old ...
injury though saw Lyon again on the sideline. However, he recovered and in round 24, he set the club record for the most tries in first grade match when he ran in 5 in Parramatta's 74–4 victory over the
Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...
, helping the Eels set their highest ever score and largest ever winning margin in process. But this was not enough for the Eels as they just missed the finals for the first time since 1996, and for the first time in Brian Smith's time at the club. During his time at Parramatta, Lyon had received several club awards including the Jack Gibson Award in 2001 awarded by the first grade coach, the Ron Lynch Media Award in 2003, the Members People Choice Award in 2003 and, along with Matthew Petersen, was jointly awarded the Murray Wilson Try Scoring Award as the top try scorers for the club in the 2003 NRL season. Lyon made headlines when on 15 March 2004, after four seasons, 70 games and at the age of just 22, announced that he was retiring from Parramatta and the NRL. He did so just two days after Parramatta's round one 48–14 loss to the
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...
and without talking to his teammates. He had around two years remaining on his contract. In reaction to the announcement, fellow country players Justin Hodges and David Peachey publicly supported his decision. With both players themselves taking breaks from the game, Hodges was quoted as saying that "footy does get a hold on you and it does get you down sometimes. People say it's the life but sometimes there's more bad than good. He's
yon Yon may refer to: * Yon (name), including a list of people with the name * Yon (river), France * Yon Mound and Village Site, a prehistoric archaeological site in Florida * ''Yön'' ("Direction" in English), a Turkish weekly leftist political magaz ...
only 22 and he's from the country so it's pretty hard living in a big city like this. Even I struggled."
Terry Hill Terry Hill (22 January 1972 – 24 April 2024) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1990s and 2000s. He played in the NRL for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Eastern Suburbs, Western Suburbs Magpies, Manly ...
added to the controversy when at the press conference to announce his own retirement, he predicted more young players would take Lyon's lead and leave the top grade. Lyon later said, "I definitely would’ve changed a few things with the Parramatta, the finish up there. It wasn’t the best way to go and, you know, I was still pretty young and I let my teammates and the club down out there and obviously I’d love to change that if I could, but I can’t and at that time I was just finishing up totally from footy, I wasn’t going to play anymore."


Return to Country NSW

On 9 April 2004, Lyon's manager Alan Gainey announced that Lyon was seeking a clearance to return to his junior club – the Wee Waa Panthers. On 14 April 2004, one month after he walked out, Lyon and Gainey meet with Parramatta officials for two hours to determine Lyon's future. The following day, it was announced this that his pay would be suspended and that the initial Wee Waa offer was rejected. However, six weeks later on 4 June 2004, the Eels conceded and granted the clearance under the condition that Lyon could not play for another club in the NRL. Lyon agreed to the condition and signed a supplemental agreement to play with the Country Rugby League Group Four club up until the end of 2006. He proved to be a worthy asset as the Panthers defeated the Moree Boars in the grand final. After bids from the
Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...
, the Gold Coast Dolphins (as they originally were going to be named), the
Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...
and the Sea-eagles, Lyon on 17 August 2004, signed with English
Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...
club St. Helens on a two-year deal. The club outlayed $150,000 to clear Lyon of his existing contract as well as $600,000 over the two seasons.


St Helens (2005 to 2006)

Lyon made his début for the Saints on 11 February 2005 against the
Widnes Vikings The Widnes Vikings are an English rugby league club in Widnes, Cheshire, which competes in the RFL Championship, Betfred Championship. The club plays home matches at DCBL Stadium. Founded as Widnes Football Club, they are one of the original twe ...
at
Knowsley Road Knowsley Road is a former football stadium in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. It was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For ...
. After a delayed start due to crowd congestion, Lyon set up two tries in the 40–18 win. He scored his first try for the 116-year-old club in the round 5 clash against the Salford City Reds and in the following round against the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats kicked six goals from seven attempts. Lyon's performance for the Saints received praise from both the media and the fans. He was twice voted as the Super League Player of the Month by the readers of the British rugby league publication ''Rugby Leaguer and League Express''. For rounds 13 to 16 he received 42 percent of the vote and for round 17 to 20 he increased his share to 67.5 percent of the vote. By the season's end, he had amassed 22 tries and 42 goals for a total 172 points; became only the fourth non-British player to be presented with the
Man of Steel Award The Steve Prescott Man of Steel Awards is an end-of-season awards dinner for the Super League rugby league competition. The event's name is taken from the main award presented, the Man of Steel award for the rugby league footballer of the year. I ...
; was named the Rugby League Players Association Players' Player of the Year; and was named as part of the media selected 2005 Super League Dream Team. In 2006, Lyon became the Saints' number one goal kicker with captain Paul Sculthorpe reduced to replacement kicker. He played for St Helens at centre, scoring a try and kicking 7 goals from 7 attempts, in their 2006 Challenge Cup Final victory against the
Huddersfield Giants The Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Huddersfield play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league sy ...
. In addition to the 88 points scored in the Challenge Cup, he almost doubled his 2005 premiership points tally with 328. As a result, he was once again selected as part of Super League Dream Team. St Helens reached the 2006 Super League Grand final to be contested against Hull F.C. and Lyon played at centre, kicking three goals in Saints' 26–4 victory.


Manly Warringah (2007 to 2016)

In March 2006, Lyon made contact with Parramatta with the intent of returning to his old club in 2007. In early May, it seemed certain that Lyon was about to sign with the Eels, but in June the deal went sour and other offers came in from Penrith and Newcastle. In the end Manly won out when on 5 July 2006, 5 days after the anti-tampering deadline it was announced that Lyon had signed a four-year deal with the Brookvale-based club. The determining factor was Noel Cleal, the club's recruitment officer. On 2 October 2006, the squad for the 2006 Tri-Nations tournament was announced with Lyon being a surprise inclusion. In reaction to his selection, Parramatta legend Peter Sterling had at the time criticised Lyon, saying that he should not even be allowed in the
NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
claiming that Lyon took $125,000 for playing only a handful of games in 2004 and considering Lyon as "lacking class". Lyon retorted that he did "not look up to Sterlo" and that the comments "would not worry" him. Lyon played in only one match during the series, Australia's first match against
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
where Australia went down 23–12. Australia ended up winning the series defeating
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
in the final. After a great pre-season, he made his début for Manly on 17 March 2007 against the
Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...
where he scored two tries and kicked three goals. Initially playing in the centres, the return of
Steve Matai Stephen Matai (born 5 August 1984) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who played in the National Rugby League (NRL )from 2005 to 2016. A New Zealand national rugby league team, New Zealand national representative centr ...
saw Lyon move into the role. Round 9 saw Manly at home to Parramatta and the first time Lyon played against old club, however Parramatta played down the significance. Lyon got lucky as he scored early in second half to help steer Manly to victory. Since Lyon's return to the NRL has played in the 2007 ANZAC Test against New Zealand and Games I and II of the 2007 State of Origin series. He played in the Sea Eagles'
2007 NRL grand final The 2007 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive, premiership-deciding match of the 2007 NRL season. It was played between the first-placed Melbourne Storm and second-placed Manly Warringah Sea Eagles at Telstra Stadium on 30 September, in front o ...
defeat against the
Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...
. Lyon played in the 2008 NRL Grand Final victory over the
Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...
, kicking two goals. Lyon switched between centre and five-eight in the 2009 season, in the later games played in the centres to make way for young Kieran Foran. After representative exile, he was selected for Country in the City vs Country match on 8 May 2009. He was then named in the 17-man squad to represent
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 ...
in the opening match of the 2009 State of Origin series, in Melbourne. With the departure of captain Matt Orford to the
Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...
in the
Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...
at the conclusion of the 2009 season, Lyon was named co-captain alongside Manly stalwart Jason King. In the 2010 season, he was appointed co-captain of Manly. Since being appointed co-captaincy and making a permanent move to right centre position, Lyon had been in arguably career-best form, reflected by being named Dally M ''Centre of the Year'' in both 2010 and 2011. Lyon was also an almost automatic selection for both NSW and Australia, however he had sought exemption from representative duties on most occasions, citing family reasons. Lyon started the 2010 Season playing at Five-Eighth and combining in the halves with Kieran Foran (at Halfback) for the Round 1 clash against the West Tigers at the Sydney Football Stadium. However following Manly's loss to the Tigers in Round 1, for the round 2 away-game against the
Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...
, when Kieran Foran shifted back to Five-Eighth (from Halfback, to allow
Trent Hodkinson Trent Hodkinson (born 31 August 1988) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the National Rugby League, NRL. He played for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles in two separate spells, the Canterbury-Bankstow ...
to make his NRL debut); Lyon shifted back to the Centres (from Five-Eighth). Lyon also played in the 2010 ANZAC test vs New Zealand, scoring two goals and for Game 1 of the
2010 State of Origin series The 2010 State of Origin series was the 29th annual best-of-three series of interstate rugby league football matches between the Queensland and New South Wales representative teams played entirely under ' state of origin' selection rules. For the ...
. Lyon captained the Manly Sea Eagles from his position at centre in the
2011 NRL grand final The 2011 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the National Rugby League, NRL's 2011 Telstra Premiership season. It was played between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the New Zealand Warriors on the afternoon of ...
, scoring a try in the win over the
New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...
. On 3 November 2011 The annual
RLIF Awards The RLIF Awards are the Rugby League International Federation's annual major international sporting award for rugby league. Since 2004 the awards ceremony recognises the best referee, coach, developing nations player, international newcomer, capta ...
dinner was held at the
Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...
and Lyon was named of the year. Lyon captained the Sea Eagles, kicking two goals in their 2012 World Club Challenge loss to the
Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...
in Leeds before the start of the
2012 NRL season The 2012 NRL season was the 105th season of professional rugby league club competition in Australia, and the first run by the newly formed Australian Rugby League Commission. The main competition, called the 2012 NRL Telstra Premiership due to spon ...
. In 2013, Lyon played and captained in every game for Manly (each week) of the regular season and including the finals appearances. Days before the NRL Grand Final, Lyon was named 'Dally M Centre of the year' at the NRL Dally M Awards event. He captained Manly in the grand final against the
Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...
. However the Sydney Roosters won the game 26-18 and the premiership. In 2014, Lyon once again won Dally M Centre of the Year at the NRL Dally M Awards Event. Although with this he also won the Dally M Captain of the Year" at the same event. With 1,410 points, Jamie Lyon is one of only four players along with
Graham Eadie Graham "Wombat" Eadie (born 25 November 1953), is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been named amongst Australia's finest of the 20th century. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australia ...
(1,917), Bob Batty (1,154) and Matthew Ridge (1,093) who have scored over 1,000 career points playing for Manly-Warringah. On 27 April 2016, Lyon announced his retirement from rugby league at the season's end. After his retirement from top level rugby league, Lyon Captain-Coached the Ballina Seagulls to a premiership in the
Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League The Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League (NRRRL) is a rugby league competition run in the far north of New South Wales, Australia. It is run under the auspices of the New South Wales Country Rugby League, Country Rugby League. The league formed ...
competition in 2019.


References


External links


NRL profileSaints Heritage Society profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyon, Jamie 1982 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Ballina Seagulls captains Ballina Seagulls players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Junior Kangaroos players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles captains Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players NRL All Stars players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league centres Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league players from Narrabri St Helens R.F.C. players Australian expatriate rugby league players in England People educated at Parramatta Marist High School