“Catching up on lost time” is a caption that the Lyons brothers have used on their Instagram accounts when sharing pictures of each other. But what does it mean?
At 18 years of age older brother Jarryd was picked up by the Adelaide Crows in the draft and swiftly moved to South Australia. Younger brother Corey was only 12 years old at that time and was left behind in Melbourne.
“Those years when we should be hanging out at home, I wasn’t there,” Jarryd told lions.com.au.
“We didn’t get to spend those early years together, other than just talking on the phone or catching up when I played in Melbourne or if they came up for a trip.”
It was fortuitous that after Jarryd had spent eight years between the Crows and then the Gold Coast SUNS, he was picked up by the Lions in late 2018 and became Corey’s teammate.
“We’re spending time together and making up for the lost time together that we didn’t get in those teenage years,” he said.
“It’s been awesome. We’re very similar people and we get along really well. It’s really good to have him at home.”
Corey is not the only family member Jarryd has been enjoying spending as much time with – in August he and his wife Savahna welcomed their first child, a boy called Sebastian.
Jarryd revealed that the little man has motivated him to become the best player he can, so that ‘Seb’ can watch Dad play AFL one day.
“It makes you want to get better,” he said.
“I’m 27 now and I want to make sure I’m still playing when he knows what footy is all about.
“It does give me motivation to make sure I can play on for another three, four, five years.”
