The numbers don't lie: Lyon is without peer at the heart of the game
Glenn Jackson - SMH
He has not played a representative match since 2010, but there appears to be less doubt than there ever has been that Manly's Jamie Lyon is the best centre in the NRL.
When Lyon went down against Cronulla last Friday night clutching his leg and fearing a break, the Sea Eagles' hopes for the premiership appeared just as fractured. Now Lyon will play in the preliminary final against Souths and the Sea Eagles' prospects lifted as a result.
''I do believe that Jamie Lyon is the best centre in the game,'' the former Dragons and Maroons centre Mark Coyne said. ''He has been for a number of years. As a Queenslander, I'm very happy that he decides not to play for NSW. The tries he scores, and the tries he creates, are simply sublime.
''You could argue [Justin] Hodges [rivals him] when fit, and GI [Greg Inglis] when he's playing for Queensland in the centres, but I think week in, week out, Lyon is in a class of his own.''[/i]
Here's why. In 128 appearances as a centre, he has scored 58 tries and has provided the assist for 59. That latter figure is without peer - no other centre has provided the assist for more than 40 tries.
Manly's right edge, as a result, has been peerless, particularly this year, scoring tries but also saving them. Twenty-seven tries have been scored via the Sea Eagles' right side, which includes halfback Daly Cherry-Evans, edge back-rower Glenn Stewart, centre Lyon and winger David Williams. But equally impressively, just 12 tries have been scored down their side.
Teams generally attack well down their left side, passing right-to-left, but most outfits have had huge difficulty penetrating Manly through that corridor.
The key appears to be Lyon. Since his arrival at the club in 2007, only Melbourne boast a right side which is as potent in attack and stingy in defence.
Lyon has also made more line-break assists than any player in his team this year. With 17 of them, he leads the competition when it comes to centres, with a figure more in line with the best halfbacks and five-eighths. Halves Mitchell Pearce (Sydney Roosters) and Cooper Cronk (Melbourne) have 19, while Cowboys five-eighth Johnathan Thurston has 18. Then there is Lyon, the prince of the modern-day centres.
''His decision-making, in attack and defence, his composure, they just make everyone around him play at a higher level,'' said Andrew Moufarrige, from NRL Stats.
He is ably assisted, of course, by Steve Matai, the Sea Eagles' left-side centre. Over his career at centre, Matai has 66 tries and 40 try assists.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/the-numbers-dont-lie-lyon-is-without-peer-at-the-heart-of-the-game-20130926-2uh0j.html
