Jamie Lyon
Lyon playing for Manly in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Jamie Lyon
Nickname	Killer[1]
Born	24 January 1982 (1982-01-24) (age 27)
	Narrabri, New South Wales, Australia
Height	179 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	90 kg (14 st 2 lb)
Playing information
Position	Centre, Five-eighth
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2000–04	Parramatta Eels	70	36	0	0	144
2005–06	St Helens	63	46	213	0	610
2007–	Manly Sea Eagles	65	24	72	0	240
	Total	198	106	285	0	994
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2003–09	Country Origin	3	2	3	0	14
2002–09	New South Wales	9	1	4	0	12
2001–07	Australia	7	4	0	0	16
As of November 3, 2009
Source: NRL Stats, RLP

Jamie Lyon (born 24 January 1982 in Narrabri, New South Wales) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer currently playing for the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles of the National Rugby League competition. He previously played for the Parramatta Eels and in the English Super League with St. Helens. Lyon has also represented New South Wales and Australia.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Parramatta

Born in Narrabri in north-central New South Wales^[1] and growing up in Boggabri, New South Wales, he played junior rugby league for the Boggabri Bulls.^[1]

Selected to play for the Australian Schoolboys team, he was part of the 1999 squad who went undefeated in their tour of France, Ireland and England.^[2] Parramatta Eels's club development officer at the time, Noel Cleal, saw potential in the young centre and managed to lure Lyon to sign with the Sydney club.^[3] He made his first grade début coming off the bench in the Eels round 21 clash against the newly merged West Tigers on 25 June 2000^[4] becoming the 622nd first grader for Parramatta in the process.^[5] He scored his first try just three rounds later and he finished his début season with a try in Parramatta's 32-24 defeat of the St George Illawarra Dragons.

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 thanks in part to Lyon's 11 tries. After defeating the New Zealand Warriors and the Brisbane Broncos in the qualifying and preliminary finals respectively, Parramatta fell just short of becoming premiers losing to the Newcastle Knights in Grand Final, with Lyon scoring two tries.

The start of the 2002 season started off well for Lyon, 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.^[6]

He made his return in round 1 of the 2003 season. Starting off well again, he scored four tries in four games.^[7] A hamstring injury though saw Lyon again on 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 defeat of the Cronulla Sharks, helping the Eels set their highest ever score and largest ever winning margin in process.^[8][9]

During his time at Parramatta, he 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.^[10]

[edit] Quitting controversy

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 Bulldogs^[11] and without talking to his team mates.^[12] In June 2002, he had extended his contract with the club until the end of 2006 at around $250,000 per season.^[13]

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 [Lyon] only 22 and he's from the country so it's pretty hard living in a big city like this. Even I struggled."^[14]

Terry Hill 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.^[12]

[edit] Move to Wee Waa

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.^[15] On 14 April 2004, one month after he walked out, Lyon and Gainey meet with Parramata officials for two hours to determine Lyon's future.^[16] The following day, it was announced this that his pay would be suspended and that the initial Wee Waa offer was rejected.^[17]

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.^[18] 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.^[19] He proved to be a worthy asset as the Panthers defeated the Moree Blue Boars in the grand final.^[20]

[edit] St. Helens

Jamie Lyon preparing to kick at goal for St Helens

After bids from the Penrith Panthers,^[21] the Gold Coast Dolphins (as they originally were going to be named),^[22] the Canberra Raiders^[21] and the Sea-eagles,^[23] Lyon on 17 August 2004, signed with English Super League club St. Helens on a two year deal.^[24] The club outlayed $150,000 to clear Lyon of his existing contract as well as $600,000 over the two seasons.^[25]

Lyon made his début for the Saints on 11 February 2005 against the Widnes Vikings at Knowsley Road. After a delayed start due to crowd congestion, Lyon set up two tries in the 40-18 win.^[26] He scored his first try for the 116 year old club in the round 5 clash against the Salford City Reds^[27] and in the following round against the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats kicked six goals from seven attempts.^[28]

Jamie Lyon kicking at goal for St Helens in the 2006 Super League Grand Final victory over Hull FC at Old Trafford

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.^[29]

By seasons 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; was named the Rugby League Players Association Players' Player of the Year;^[30] and was named as part of the media selected 2005 Super League Dream Team.^[31]

In 2006, Lyon became the Saints number one goal kicker with captain Paul Sculthorpe reduced to replacement kicker. He was instrumental for the Saints as they won both the 2006 Super League Grand Final and the Rugby League Challenge Cup. 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.^[32]

[edit] Return to the NRL

In March 2006, Lyon made contact with Parramatta with the intent of returning to his old club in 2007.^[33] In early May, it seemed certain that Lyon was about to sign the Eels,^[34] but in June the deal went sour and other offers came in from Penrith^[35] and Newcastle.^[36] 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.^[37][38][39] The determining factor was Noel Cleal, the club's recruitment officer.^[36]

After a great pre-season,^[40] he made his début for Manly on 17 March 2007 against the Canberra Raiders where he a scored two tries and kicked three goals.^[41] Initially playing in the centres, the return of Steve Matai saw Lyon move into the Stand-off/five-eighth role.

Round 9 saw Manly at home to Parramatta and the first time Lyon played against old club, however Parramatta played down the significance.^[42] Lyon showed no mercy as he scored early in second half to help steer Manly to victory.^[43]

He played in the 2007 NRL grand final defeat to the Melbourne Storm.^[44]

He played in the 2008 NRL Grand Final victory over the Melbourne Storm, kicking two goals.^[45]

[edit] Representative career

On 7 October 2001, Lyon became the 697th player to represent Australia^[46] when he made his national representative début in the test match at Lloyd Robson Oval, Port Moresby against Papua New Guinea where 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.^[47]

He made his State of Origin début in Game I of the 2002 series scoring a try in 32-4 points victory. He played again in Game II of the series however the ankle injury that he sustained in round 14 saw him unavailable for Game III. The following year, he played in all three games for the Blues in their 2-1 series victory.

On 2 October 2006, the squad for the 2006 Tri-Nations tournament was announced with Lyon being a surprise inclusion.^[48][49] 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 claiming that Lyon took $125, 000 for playing only a handful of games in 2004 and considering Lyon as "lacking class".^[50] Lyon retorted that he did "not look up to Sterlo" and that the comments "would not worry" him.^[51] Lyon played in only one match during the series, Australia's first match against Great Britain^[52] where Australia went down 23-12. Australia ended up winning the series defeating New Zealand in the final.

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. After represetative exile, he was selected for Country in the City vs Country match on 8 May 2009.^[53]

In May 2009, he was named in the 17 man squad to represent New South Wales in the opening State of Origin match on 3 June, 2009, in Melbourne.^[54]

[edit] References