Garry Lyon and Nicky Brownless, ex-wife of AFL star Billy Brownless, announce their engagement

A scandal that rocked AFL circles has taken another huge twist.

Garry Lyon, who ruined his friendship with great mate Billy Brownless when he started dating the former Geelong forward’s ex-wife Nicky, has now proposed to the blonde mother of four.

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Nicky clearly wasn’t expecting the move, announcing the news of the engagement on her Instagram account, posting a black and white photo of the pair embracing with the caption “the best surprise”.

Nicky tagged the post in New York where they are believed to be holidaying, although the proposal came at their Mornington Peninsula property, according to the Herald Sun.

Nicky and Billy Brownless were together for 18 years and had four children together before splitting up in 2014.

Nicky Brownless’ relationship with Lyon became public in 2016, ending a close friendship between the ex-AFL players and colleagues on former Channel 9 program The Footy Show.

In 2020, Billy 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 are “not best mates ... but one day I suppose we’ll sit down and have a beer. Time heals”.

That has indeed proven the case, with members of both the Lyon and Brownless families burying the hatchet and spending a number of Christmases together in recent years.

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.”

There was a mixed response to the news on social media.

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“Poor Bill. I hope he stands up at the wedding and says his piece. He has every right to,” was one comment on X.

“They are human, life goes on as time goes by, time heels so congratulations to the lot of them,” wrote another. “They all paid a huge price when it went public.”

Lyon, who has three children from his relationship with ex-wife Melissa, and Nicky Brownless have been together for eight years.

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