MELBOURNE great Garry Lyon says he has no regrets about wearing the red and blue in 226 matches from 1986-99, when he could have had the chance to be part of Hawthorn’s premiership era in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Speaking at the inaugural Norm Smith Oration at the MCG on Tuesday night - a joint initiative between the Melbourne Cricket Club and Melbourne Football Club - Lyon gave a passionate speech about his love of Australian Football.
He spoke of the day back in July 1984, when then Melbourne general manager Ray Manley asked him: “Do you want to move to Melbourne and play for the Melbourne footy club?”
Lyon gave an unequivocal “yep”.
Although his father Peter played in Hawthorn’s 1963 premiership, his 16 matches for the brown and gold meant a young Garry did not qualify for the father/son rule.
Lyon said he didn’t believe in ‘what ifs’, but did have cause to ponder once what may have been when he represented Victoria in State of Origin football.
“In one game against Western Australia, the backline read Andy Collins, Chris Langford and Gary Ayres, and the half-back line was Ray Jencke, Garry Lyon and Scott Maginness,” Lyon said.
“It was of course the Hawthorn backline of the day and me being the odd one out.”
But despite this thought, Lyon was adamant he had no regrets about playing for Melbourne and not Hawthorn.
“Not a single one,” he said.
“Being recruited to the Melbourne footy club was the best thing that happened to me.”
Lyon expanded on his love for State of Origin football.
Growing up, he refused to attend school when State of Origin matches were played in Western Australia on a Tuesday afternoon.
When he got the opportunity to wear the ‘Big V’ on the first of nine occasions, it took his passion for the game to another level.
“Being selected to play for Victoria made me fall in love with the game even more,” Lyon said.
“It was everything that I dreamt it would be.
“And playing in that famous game at the MCG [in 1995] - when the late EJ Whitten made that emotional journey - moved me in a way that only the birth of my three children has been capable of doing.
“I know it’s sad, but it’s the truth. That game had such a profound impact on me.”
Today, Lyon is one of the game’s leading commentators.
But he posed this question: is the affair with football still going as strongly? His answer had mixed emotions.
“Being truthful, it will never be as intimate as the time when you’re actually playing the game. I fall in and out of love with footy on a regular basis. Sometimes it consumes me to the point where I can’t get enough of every aspect of the game,” Lyon said.
“The very occasional visits I make to the rooms before a game excite the sensors and evoke the memories to the point where I question why I ever left and why I don’t come back.
“At other times, I simply accept that football is a relentless mistress that demands more time than I’m able to give. And it’s at that time, that I’m really thankful that I can be a supporter of a game that provided me with so much and besides some blood, sweat and tears along the way, asks for so little.”
In summing up his love of the game, Lyon said he was “content being a passive observer of the greatest game on Earth”. But he misses playing like nothing else.
“Of all the things I’ve been fortunate enough to do since I played my final game, there is nothing that moves me, inspires me, disappoints me, stimulates me or motivates me in the way the game of footy did,” he said.
Lyon’s oration was responded by football media great Tony Charlton, who gave an outstanding 40-minute speech, capping off a memorable evening to honour the late great Norm Smith.
Speaking at the inaugural Norm Smith Oration at the MCG on Tuesday night - a joint initiative between the Melbourne Cricket Club and Melbourne Football Club - Lyon gave a passionate speech about his love of Australian Football.
He spoke of the day back in July 1984, when then Melbourne general manager Ray Manley asked him: “Do you want to move to Melbourne and play for the Melbourne footy club?”
Lyon gave an unequivocal “yep”.
Although his father Peter played in Hawthorn’s 1963 premiership, his 16 matches for the brown and gold meant a young Garry did not qualify for the father/son rule.
Lyon said he didn’t believe in ‘what ifs’, but did have cause to ponder once what may have been when he represented Victoria in State of Origin football.
“In one game against Western Australia, the backline read Andy Collins, Chris Langford and Gary Ayres, and the half-back line was Ray Jencke, Garry Lyon and Scott Maginness,” Lyon said.
“It was of course the Hawthorn backline of the day and me being the odd one out.”
But despite this thought, Lyon was adamant he had no regrets about playing for Melbourne and not Hawthorn.
“Not a single one,” he said.
“Being recruited to the Melbourne footy club was the best thing that happened to me.”
Lyon expanded on his love for State of Origin football.
Growing up, he refused to attend school when State of Origin matches were played in Western Australia on a Tuesday afternoon.
When he got the opportunity to wear the ‘Big V’ on the first of nine occasions, it took his passion for the game to another level.
“Being selected to play for Victoria made me fall in love with the game even more,” Lyon said.
“It was everything that I dreamt it would be.
“And playing in that famous game at the MCG [in 1995] - when the late EJ Whitten made that emotional journey - moved me in a way that only the birth of my three children has been capable of doing.
“I know it’s sad, but it’s the truth. That game had such a profound impact on me.”
Today, Lyon is one of the game’s leading commentators.
But he posed this question: is the affair with football still going as strongly? His answer had mixed emotions.
“Being truthful, it will never be as intimate as the time when you’re actually playing the game. I fall in and out of love with footy on a regular basis. Sometimes it consumes me to the point where I can’t get enough of every aspect of the game,” Lyon said.
“The very occasional visits I make to the rooms before a game excite the sensors and evoke the memories to the point where I question why I ever left and why I don’t come back.
“At other times, I simply accept that football is a relentless mistress that demands more time than I’m able to give. And it’s at that time, that I’m really thankful that I can be a supporter of a game that provided me with so much and besides some blood, sweat and tears along the way, asks for so little.”
In summing up his love of the game, Lyon said he was “content being a passive observer of the greatest game on Earth”. But he misses playing like nothing else.
“Of all the things I’ve been fortunate enough to do since I played my final game, there is nothing that moves me, inspires me, disappoints me, stimulates me or motivates me in the way the game of footy did,” he said.
Lyon’s oration was responded by football media great Tony Charlton, who gave an outstanding 40-minute speech, capping off a memorable evening to honour the late great Norm Smith.
