This biography is from “No One Likes Us And We Don’t Care: 101 Reasons To Be A Proud Manly Sea Eagles Fan”. You can buy the book here

CLIFF LYONS

Mercurial five-eighth Cliff Lyons continued to get better with age, and won the Dally M award for being the best player in the competition in 1994, at the age of 33. It was his second Dally M triumph, after capping a stellar 1990 season by winning the award. Lyons played over 300 first grade games for Manly, and played in two premiership winning sides. 47 Lyons was born in Narrandera in 1961, and moved to Sydney as a teenager. He played lower grades with Cronulla in 1981 as a ball playing second rower, but left the club after one season to play with Gundagai. He represented Riverina against New Zealand in 1982, and Great Britain in 1984; and followed his coach Greg Hawick to Sydney in 1985 to play with Norths. Lyons made his first grade debut for Norths in round two of the 1985 competition, and kicked a field goal in the club’s 15-10 win over Illawarra. He scored his first try for the club the following week in a 28-20 loss to Canberra. Lyons finished the season with seven tries, and went to England at the end of the year to play with Leeds. Upon his return, Lyons signed with Manly for the 1986 season. He made his first grade debut for the club in round seven against Wests, and retained his place in the top side for the remainder of the season. Lyons played much of the season at lock forward in the absence of injured captain Paul Vautin. In 1987 Lyons cemented his place at five-eighth, and found his best form. He made his debut for 48 New South Wales that year, and won the Clive Churchill Medal for being the best player in Manly’s 18-8 win over Canberra in the Grand Final. At the end of the season he represented New South Wales in an exhibition match against Queensland in the United States. Lyons continued his good form in 1988, and scored a hat-trick against both Parramatta and Canberra. He finished the season with a career best fourteen tries to his credit. He scored another hat-trick against Brisbane in 1989 in a disappointing season for the club. In 1990 Manly returned to the finals, and Lyons won his first Dally M award. He scored seven tries during the season, and was rewarded with belated selection in the Australian squad for the Kangaroo Tour. Lyons made his debut against Great Britain, and played a key role in Australia retaining the Ashes. He later appeared in both test matches against France. At the end of the 1991 season Lyons toured Papua New Guinea with the Australian side, where he played his final test matches. Although he was no longer selected for representative sides, Lyons continued to be one of the best players in the 49 competition, and was key to Manly’s revival in the mid-1990s. He struck up a combination with rookie second row forward Steve Menzies in 1994 which yielded dozens of tries over the next few seasons. Lyons won a second Dally M award in 1994, and played in Manly’s Grand Final loss to Canterbury the following year. Towards the end of the 1996 season, Lyons was used more as an impact player from the interchange bench once opposition forwards had begun to tire. He scored a try in the Grand Final qualifier against Cronulla, and played in Manly’s 20- 8 win over St George in the Grand Final. Lyons played most of the 1997 season from the bench, and finished the season with seven tries. He was a member of the Sea Eagles side that lost the Grand Final to Newcastle that year. Lyons was at lock for Manly in their 1998 finals loss to Canberra in what was thought to be his last game for the club. After a disastrous start to the 1999 season, Manly sent an SOS to Lyons, who returned to the club in round four. His last game for the club was a 20-18 loss to St George-Illawarra at the end of the season. 50 Lyons spent the 2001 season as captain-coach of Umina in the NSW Central Coast competition, and later played several seasons in the Manly A-Grade competition. He coached the Manly NSW Cup side in 2012.