Six players inducted into NRL Hall of Fame, including Sea Eagles greats Cliff Lyons and Steve Menzies
MANLY Sea Eagles icons Cliff Lyons and Steve Menzies have taken the premiership-winning partnership into the history books, as part of the next six players inducted into the NRL’s Hall of Fame.
NRL
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CLIFF Lyons and Steve Menzies produced arguably the greatest partnership in rugby league history. Now the Manly Sea Eagles greats will forever be honoured after becoming part of the six players inducted into the NRL’s hall of fame.
Lyons and Menzies are joined by Petero Civoniceva, Mark Graham, Ricky Stuart and Gorden Tallis, whose careers will be celebrated at a gala dinner on August 1.
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The group was chosen from a short list of 25 former players that included Craig Young, Greg Alexander, Kevin Walters, Paul Harragon, Royce Simmons, Rod Reddy, Ruben Wiki and Stacey Jones.
The Menzies/Lyons partnership helped lead the Sea Eagles to great heights during the 1990s, including a premiership in 1996 and three successive grand final appearances.
“People ask who the greatest I played with and the answer is always Cliffy,” Menzies said. “The things he could do on the field, his natural ability to sum situations up. He never once sold me a hospital pass. He never gave me the ball at the wrong time. I could run where the gap was and if I was in one he would throw the ball to me.
“We only had one pre-rehearsed play because there was no point trying to organise a play because Cliffy didn’t even know what he was doing. I would just shout out where I would be and he would find me.
“You can be the best ball runner in the world but if the ballplayer doesn’t hit you, it doesn’t help you.”
Menzies and Lyons played 144 matches together from 1993 to 1999, winning 100 at 69.4 per cent. Menzies scored 104 tries in these matches at 0.72 tries per game and only played in six matches without Lyons, not scoring in any.
Menzies scored 76 tries in 205 matches at 0.4 per game without Lyons.
“It’s crazy you can have the greatest combination with a player when he is 12 years older,” Menzies said. “My favourite play was the inside ball. Cliffy’s mullet would be flapping in the back of his head.
“Defenders would run across with him and I would sit outside him as soon as that defender was committed on Cliffy I would drop inside.”
Menzies won two premierships, scoring a try in his final NRL match in the 2008 grand final win in 349th first grade game.
Lyons’s career was close to being over before it even started. He played in Cronulla’s under-23s in 1981 but spent the next three seasons playing bush football for Gundagai before being handed a lifeline by then Bears coach Greg Hawick, who had coached Lyons in a country representative team.
“I was in the right spot at the right time,” Lyons said. “If Greg didn’t get the Norths job and seen something in me I would’ve probably stayed in the bush. They sacked him halfway through the season and that’s why I left Norths.”
Lyons would go on to win two titles with the Sea Eagles in what is considered one of the best signings in the game’s history.
Lyons made a full-time switch from lock to five-eighth during the 1987 season before going on to claim two Dally M Awards as well as representing Australia and NSW.
“I didn’t train to play five-eighth,” Lyons said. “I ended up knowing how to pass a ball and read the play.”
Lyons retired just months shy of his 38th birthday.
Meanwhile, two Immortals will be announced next month with the likes of Dally Messenger, Frank Burge, Dave Brown, Brian Bevan, Duncan Hall, Norm Provan, Ken Irvine, Ron Coote, Mal Meninga and Darren Lockyer short-listed.
THE 2018 HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
PETERO CIVONICEVA: 309 NRL games (235 Brisbane, 74 Penrith), 25 tries, two premierships, 45 Tests for Australia, 33 games for Queensland.
MARK GRAHAM: 146 NRL games with North Sydney, 28 tries, 29 Tests for New Zealand.
CLIFF LYONS: 332 NRL games (23 North Sydney, 309 Manly), 87 tries, nine goals, seven field goals, two premierships, six Tests for Australia, six games for NSW.
STEVE MENZIES: 349 NRL games (280 Manly, 69 Northern Eagles), 180 tries, one goal, two premierships, 15 Tests for Australia, 20 games for NSW.
RICKY STUART: 243 NRL games (203 Canberra, 40 Canterbury), 41 tries, seven goals, 27 field goals, three premierships, nine Tests for Australia, 14 games for NSW.
GORDEN TALLIS: 214 NRL games (54 St George, 160 Brisbane), 66 tries, one goal, three premierships, 13 Tests for Australia, 17 games for Queensland.