Photo of Garry Lyon and Nicky Brownless after engagement causes a stir

The first photo of AFL legend Garry Lyon and partner Nicky Brownless – after they shared huge news this month – is turning heads.

Garry Lyon and Nicky Brownless are engaged.

Garry Lyon and Nicky Brownless have returned to Melbourne showing off their engagement news.

The football legend reportedly popped the question to his partner earlier this month after more than eight years together.

The relationship has blossomed despite facing a series of public scandals right from the beginning.

Lyon and Geelong cult hero Billy Brownless are only now patching their relationship back together after Lyon famously began dating Nicky one year following her separation from her ex-husband.

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The couple have now been spotted at the arrivals lounge at Melbourne Airport with new photographs showing Nicky wearing an impressive diamond ring.

As first reported by The Herald Sun, the couple returned to Melbourne on Wednesday after a Christmas holiday in New York.

Garry Lyon and Nicky Brownless have been spotted at the arrivals lounge at Melbourne airport, with Brownless sporting a diamond engagement ring > https://t.co/njaLw3r081pic.twitter.com/I2UplOKvso

— Herald Sun (@theheraldsun) December 27, 2023

Nicky has four children – Lucy, Ruby, Oscar and Max – from her marriage with the football larrikin.

Lyon also has three children from his previous marriage with ex-wife Melissa.

The two families have in recent years spent Christmas together as one big family. Brownless, a 198-game Geelong legend, recently spoke about how time has been healing the wounds he suffered during the public marriage breakdown.

Both families will be celebrating the couple’s engagement, which clearly took Nicky by surprise.

Nicky shared a black and white photo of Lyon’s proposal with the caption “the best surprise”.

The special moment came at their Mornington Peninsula property, News Corp first reported.

Garry Lyon and Nicky Brownless are engaged. Picture: Instagram

Nicky and Brownless were together for 18 years before splitting in 2014.

Nicky’s relationship with Lyon became public in 2016, breaking the close friendship between the ex-AFL players who also worked side-by-side on The Footy Show.

In 2020, Brownless addressed the situation on reality show I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here.

“We separated about four years ago,” he said. “Had a big, big dust-up we did. It was public, very public.

“She just fell out of love, which happens. I didn’t expect it. You think she’ll come back and all that, but she didn’t. So that was a real kick in the guts.”

Brownless added that Lyon and he were “not best mates ... but one day I suppose we’ll sit down and have a beer. Time heals”.

Oscar Brownless (centre) poses for a photo with his dad Billy and mum Nicky. Picture: Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images

Billy Brownless, Nicky Brownless, Garry Lyon and family members during Christmas together in 2020. Photo: Instagram

Lyon has also previously addressed the situation, apologising for his actions and discussing the relationship he conceded was “frowned upon”.

“It’s important I apologise publicly for the hurt they’ve been through,” Lyon said when the relationship became public.

“I was separated back in 2014. It’s hard enough to deal with separation, hard enough to deal with privately let alone publicly when you throw in a new relationship that lots of people frown upon, a person who was once married to a friend.”

Brownless in late 2022 confirmed he has a new lady in his life and said the pair were “taking it slowly”.

“It’s really new and a nice little friendship. We’re going all right and taking it slowly,” he said.