Cliff Lyons

Cliff Lyons

Personal information
Nickname	Napper, Cliffy
Born	(1961-10-19) 19 October 1961 (age 55) Narrandera, New South Wales
Playing information
Height	178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	89 kg (14 st 0 lb; 196 lb)
Position	Five-eighth, Lock, Halfback
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1985 North Sydney Bears 23 7 4 1 37 1985–86 Leeds  ? 9 0 2 38 1986–87 Sheffield Eagles 1986–99 Manly-Warringah 309 80 5 6 336 1988–89 Leeds 12 7 0 0 28 Total 103 9 9 439 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1987–91 New South Wales 6 1 0 0 4 1988–92 City Origin 3 0 0 0 0 1988 Rest of the World 1 0 0 0 0 1990–91 Australia 6 2 0 0 8
Source: Yesterday's Hero, and Rugby League Project

Cliff Lyons (born 19 October 1961) is an indigenous Australian former international-level rugby league footballer of the 1980s, and 90s. 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 and 1996, and also represented New South Wales and Australia, being part of the successful 1990 Kangaroo Tour of Great Britain and France.

Cliff Lyons, known as Napper or Cliffy to his mates, started his rugby league career playing Lock forward, but was often moved into the Five-eighth 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 and he quickly became a favourite son at the Sea Eagles who gave him the nickname "God". Lyons success with the Sea Eagles, winning premierships in 1987 and 1996 saw him selected to the Manly Sea Eagles 60th Anniversary Dream Team in 2006. Lyons was named on the bench of the 17 man team.

Lyons was notable for his elusive cross-field runs, creating doubt in the minds of defenders and setting up gaps for support players to run back into. His most potent partnership was with Second-rower Steven Menzies, who was nicknamed, "Jesus" because he ran off the right hand of God.