Popular AFL media personality Garry Lyon will make his anticipated return to television screens in 2017.
Lyon will return to Channel Nine in 2017 as co-host of Footy Classified. Lyon’s return was confirmed by Channel Nine colleagues Craig Hutchinson and Damian Barret on their podcast, The Sounding Board.
Lyon has also been linked with Melbourne radio station SEN, but he is not expected to return to his hosting duties on the AFL Footy Show.
The Melbourne Demons legend shocked the AFL world in February when he decided to stand down from all media duties ahead of the 2016 season.
In the wake of Lyon’s announcement, Nine released a statement claiming there was no set timeframe for when he would return to television.
“For several months The Footy Show and Footy Classified co-host has been suffering from a serious mental health condition, and he will take time out from all media roles to recover,” the statement said.
Lyon’s mental issues reportedly began as a result of a relationship breakdown with long-time friend and Footy Show co-presenter Billy Brownless, according to News Corp.
Lyon was one of the founding members of Footy Classified and featured on the program for the first nine of its ten seasons. His return for season 11 has co-host Hutchinson extremely excited.
“He’s just a brilliant host, and his DNA is in this show,” Hutchinson said.
“He and I worked on Classified sitting in coffees shops ten years ago trying to recruit Caroline Wilson and Wayne Carey at the time.”
Hutchinson believed the show had suffered from Lyon’s absence.
“What the show needs is at least two footy voices, and that was a bit more difficult for the three of us. We all have our different strengths, but none of us have played the game, so it wouldn’t matter what we all thought. No one really cares about my opinions on footy,” Hutchinson said.
“Garry’s a wonderful television talent, I’m not sure the other networks would have known how to use him as well.”
Lyon played 226 games for the Demons and kicked 426 goals in an illustrious career that saw him named as a half-forward flanker in their Team of the Century.
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