So here is yet again another Manly player, and this time it's the captain of the ship, or "co captain" I should say. At 31 Lyon is one of the "old timers" compared to most of the players to have featured in this countdown, but he's playing quite possibly the best footy of his career. The Jamie Lyon story goes all the way back to the year 2000 when he made his début for Parramatta where he would go on to make 70 appearances. He'd then embark on a trip to the Super League making 60 appearances for St Helens, before coming back home to the NRL where he took on a contract with Manly who has since logged 138 games and counting. That's a whopping 268 games of club footy for Lyon, a wealth of experience and add to that 8 appearances for Australia, 10 for NSW and 2 for NSW Country. Lyon was a Man of Steel winner in the UK all the way back in 05, and lead St Helens to a Super League Title and a Challenge Cup Title. He was the Dally M Centre of the year in 2010 and 2011, the RLIF Centre of the Year in 2011, and in 2012 he added the Dally M Captain of the year award to his shelf. With Manly he was a Grand Final winner in 2008 and 2011, including being part of the side that put a 40-0 Grand Final thrashing on Melbourne, he's also one of a small number of players still in the NRL who has been part of a series winning NSW State of Origin effort, Lyon has had success in every facet of the game.. A finalist for Centre of the Year in 2012, missing out to a high flying season from Josh Morris riding shotgun with Barba, Lyon should be an automatic selection for both NSW and Australia, but elects to remove himself from the representative frame. Of course Lyon is more than welcome to make his own decisions, but it's a shame that his career rep honours won't historically reflect just how good he is. His lack of representative appearances may see him not in the spotlight as often as some of the other centres in the game, but his on field performances for Manly make it clear who the top dog in the midfield is.
Killer breaks the Sharkies hearts
Lyon is another one of these fantastic players who has all the talent to play across multiple positions. While in recent years he has settled down in the centre role, and subsequently became the best centre in the game, Lyon has spent much of his career playing at five-eighth also. This is by no means in a "fill in" type capacity, he has the ability to be a legit NRL level five-eighth, and indeed when Manly won the title in 2008, Lyon spent the majority of the season at five-eighth, including through the finals. He has all the five-eighth skills, a great tactical kicking game, the passing game, and the critical understanding of the game that comes with being a class five-eighth. While it's not a requirement of a guy in the 6 jersey, he's also a great goal kicker, which lead to him being one of the most prolific point scorers in the competition in 2012 with 190. Defensively he's a rock, he's got plenty of pace, and he's got the sort of rugged mentality in his approach to the game that is so often found in those who are good on the defensive side of the football. .
A rare highlight where Barba wasn't the star
Taking a look at his stats, you see the versatile, well rounded game he brings to the table...
- 11 tries
- 18 assists
- 16 tackles per game
- 75 metres per game
- 7 line breaks
- 15 line break assists
- 45 kicks in play
- 55 tackle breaks
- 25 offloads
this really tells the story when it comes to Jamie Lyon's abilities. While he was 4th overall in the NRL in points, he isn't pushing the top of the rankings in any of these stats, but he's merging so many different skills together and that's what separates him from the pack. It's a unique threat to have a centre who is also such a talented kicker, sure there's centres in the comp who can boot a ball, but Lyon has the tactical kicking game. Whether it be an attacking grubber or chip through for his winger for a try, or a defensive kick to take the pressure off, he has all the tools and he has the brains to make the right decisions. Manly's 2012 season saw the squad constantly shuffling players through due to injury, but this didn't seem to phase Lyon. He held things down on his side of the field no matter what forwards and wingers were playing with him, and again this is an example of how his wide array of skills come into play. He can adjust his game to play with anyone, and he can adjust his game to play against anyone, he has so many options in how he approaches the game that there isn't situations or combinations that he can't adapt to. Factor in his tenacious approach to the game, his experience, big performances in big matches, the way nothing phases him, he's a fantastic leader for his side and that lead to a thoroughly deserved Dally M Captain of the year award to celebrate another brilliant year from Lyon. Heading into 2013 and his 14th professional footy season, Lyon looks as dangerous as he ever has, and as part of a great Manly outfit, expect more of the same from the man known as Killer this year.
Check back in tomorrow for number 7, which means we'll be at the one week point! with this Wednesday all but wrapped up, there's only one League free day of each day of the week left to endure. That means only one more League free Monday, one more League free Tuesday, one more League free Wednesday and so on, so revel in the fact that every day is a countdown milestone at this point! Throw me a Tweet if you have any comments @WellsNorthShore
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