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Not for one second is anyone saying Jarryd Lyons is any sort of trash, but he does fit perfectly into the time-worn saying ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’.
He has certainly been a wonderful signing for the Brisbane Lions after effectively been off-loaded by the Gold Coast Suns for nothing.
And on Friday night, as the Lions open their 2024 campaign against Carlton at what will be an electric Gabba, he will claim a place in Brisbane Lions history as just the second player to play 100 games for the club after playing at two or more previous clubs.
The only player who travelled a more circuitous route to the Brisbane 100-Game Honour Board was 2001-02-03 premiership player Martin Pike, who played at Melbourne, Fitzroy and North Melbourne before joining the Lions in 2001.
And the only other player to play at three clubs before joining Brisbane was foundation Bears signing Geoff Raines, who played at Richmond, Collingwood and Essendon.
Having turned 31 on 22 July last year, Lyons will be 31 years 230 days old on the day of his 100th game in maroon, blue and gold – and the fifth-oldest among 63 100-gamers.
Only Roger Merrett (33 years 13 days), Pike (32/146), Alastair Lynch (32/20), Stefan Martin (31/274) and Martin Leslie (31/255) have been older in their 100th Brisbane game.
Even more significantly, with 2237 possessions in 99 Lions games Lyon will sit fourth for total possessions at the 100-game mark behind only Lachie Neale (2890), Tom Rockliff (2648) and Adrian Fletcher (2386).
Eight other players have topped 2000 possessions in 100 games – Simon Black (2184), Jack Redden (2121), Pearce Hanley (2109), Mitch Robinson (2071), Dayne Zorko (2058), Michael Voss (2045), Hugh McCluggage (2024) and Scott McIvor (2017).
And Lyon’s 52 Brownlow Medal votes will be second only to Neale’s astonishing 100-game haul of 117 medal votes. Next on the votes list at 100 games are Tom Rockliff (51), Black (50), Voss (43), Fletcher (36) and Jonathan Brown (30).
It was something that came out of nothing in a 2018 trade period in which the Lions was hit by the shock defection of Dayne Beams back to Collingwood but delighted to have brought in Lachie Neale from Fremantle.
As Lyon’s manager Winston Rous told the AFL trade week podcast ‘Gettable’ last October, it went back to a chance conversation in mid-2018 he had with Lions list manager Dom Ambrogio.
Remembering that Ambrogio had originally moved Lyon from Adelaide to the Gold Coast after he’d played 55 games for the Crows from 2012-16, Rous recounted how he asked Ambrogio if he’d ever snared the same player twice.
At the time it meant nothing, but as the year unfolded and Lyon fell from grace with then Suns coach Stuart Dew it became real, demonstrating the fickle uncertainty of the AFL system.
As Rous explained, the Gold Coast was prepared to delist Lyons, saying his opportunities would be limited after it had brought in a host of players and secured three top-six selections at the upcoming national draft, which led them to Jack Lukosius (#2), Izak Rankine (#3) and Ben King (#6).
Brisbane could offer Lyons additional opportunity in its ever-improving young midfield group, if he was willing to make the switch. So, Ambrogio went to work.
"I got the call from Brisbane on the Friday about catching up. I didn't know what it was about. They said, 'Is there any chance this could be part of something?' after they had lost Dayne Beams and brought in Lachie Neale.
"It just grew legs really quickly from there. We had to have willing parties and we had to keep it away from the media in a sense, because I think if it had got legs media-wise it might have been shut down.
"Jarryd hadn't been looking for a trade and the Trade Period had ended. He had fully intended to head back to the Suns and fight for his spot with a year to go on his contract."
At the time Lyons who preparing for his wedding the following week, but by the end of the weekend he had agreed to shift up the highway to Brisbane.
"It was something that came on last minute," Rous said. "Dom brought Jarryd through to Gold Coast when he was there. We had a mid-year discussion and I asked the question, 'Have you ever done it twice? Have you ever brought the same player in twice?' It was as a lead-in, because at the time Jarryd was out of the Suns' team. We never mentioned it again for four or five months, then it came up at the end of the year.
"It was on a Saturday. I called [Lyons] and said, 'Mate I've got something I need to talk to you about'. He was at a wedding and the next week was his own wedding. I flew up that Saturday night and said, 'This is what it is'. Brisbane was there on the Sunday and by the Monday I was basically asking him to make this life-changing decision. Away it went."
Lyons, 4th-2nd-3rd in the Merrett/Murray Medal in 2019-20-21 and equal 9th in the 2021 Brownlow Medal, will be the second Brisbane player to play 100 games in jumper #17 after Jared Brennan (119).
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