DANE ELDRIDGE: Could Aussie selectors use start of footy season to terminate Test great Nathan Lyon’s career?

Nathan Lyon’s future is suddenly in a spiral and it’s spinning harder than one of his revved-up offies from the rough.

In the space of one spirited chase at fine-leg, the veteran spinner has found himself not only facing an extended layoff but also an existential wrong’un.

After blowing a hamstring in the Adelaide outfield that will sideline him indefinitely, the 141-Test stalwart is grappling with an uncomfortable reality:

For all his tremendous longevity in becoming Australia’s most decorated offie, is this curtains for the man they call ‘The GOAT’?

Lyon is undoubtedly closer to the end of his career than the beginning at age 38, but he’s made no secret of his desire to roll out his languid turners for Australia as long as humanly possible.

And thanks to the relative low impact of spin bowling and his ability to consistently contribute to the cause, we all agreed he’d bowl forever provided he kept taking wickets and getting through the crease in his Zimmer frame without any dramas.

But after a simple chase on the rope caused him to pull up lame, everything we thought we knew has been turned upside down.

Despite a blessed run with injury since debuting in 2011, Lyon has now picked up two injuries in the last the two years- and both of them soft tissue.

And without being prejudiced to 30-something men and their sinews, when leg muscles become an occupational hazard it’s usually the canary in the coal mine for career necrosis.

The most tragic aspect of Lyon’s injury though is its coincided with a time when he’s stoically restated his value to the team in the face of growing adversity, most of which has come direct from his own selection panel.

At one stage clocking up 100 consecutive Test matches, the NSW native has been overlooked in two of the last three tests prior to Adelaide for tactical reasons, a decision he famously slammed live on TV for leaving him “filthy.”

But while it mattered little on the score sheet with both matches ending in Australian victories, Lyon has still found a way to maintain his premium stock price.

Not only did he show the Poms a real moral victory by embarrassing the selectors upon his return in Adelaide - flipping the proverbial bird at George Bailey by picking up two wickets in his first over - he was constantly mentioned in the Gabba Test when Australia was toiling on a flat track and we’d had enough of Brendan Doggett bowling short balls to a ring field.

As we know, overlooking a spinner at the selection table has always been a cardinal sin in Aussie cricket as bonkers as bowling first or sharing a hat with Colin Miller.

But when the guy you’ve snubbed has 500+ test wickets, and the last time he was unavailable we barely hung on to draw an Ashes series in 2023, it makes a head full of Funky’s blue rinse seem pretty tame.

But the selectors have made a recent habit of looking a gift Goat in the mouth- and maybe this injury is punishment from the cricket gods for taking him for granted.

But for all his attributes, Lyon’s greatest virtue isn’t just his ability to provide variety, strike factor and someone who can aptly lead “Under the Southern Cross” after six quick victory beers in post-match showers.

Put simply, he’s critical to the alchemy of Australia’s bowling attack because he can spend days gauzeing up one end while the quicks rotate at the other.

By maintaining a frigid economy rate that allows the pace cartel to constantly rejuvenate, Lyon is like a split mortgage; he keeps one end fixed and the other variable.

And in these times of rare turnover, it’s mighty handy for Australia considering the quicks too are touching the 140’s- both in speed and cumulative age.

But with an indefinite layoff looming, life without Australian cricket’s favourite tight end may be approaching quicker than planned.

While coach Andrew McDonald hasn’t consigned Lyon to the knackery just yet, urging his trusted to “get through this rehab and look forward to what it looks like”, it’s the length of time between Tests that augurs uncomfortably for the beloved spin wizard.

With Australia’s next test match not until mid-year against Bangladesh, selectors may see this prolonged pause as a gilded opportunity for a hard reset.

Not only could this be seen as a chance to anoint Lyon’s heir apparent against a roadkill opponent, but also to silently nuke the career of one of our all-time greats amid the deafening hullabaloo of footy season.