The daughter of Geelong great Billy Brownless and the son of Western Bulldogs legend Stephen Wallis have tied the knot in a star-studded ceremony in Noosa.

Ruby Brownless and Josh Wallis are now officially married after an AFL royal wedding set on a date widely considered a league taboo.

The calendar among AFL types is meant to be totally empty for at least two key dates during the AFL season, Round 1 and grand final day.

But the Brownless-Wallis wedding broke all conventions, held on the same day as Billy’s beloved Cats were playing at their home stadium in Geelong in their first appearance of the 2025 season.

Adding to the theme of AFL royalty, Ruby’s mother Nicky Brownless is now engaged to former Melbourne champion and expert commentator Garry Lyon.

And of course, Josh’s brother Mitch also had a brilliant 162-game career for the Western Bulldogs that finished at the end of 2022, while Ruby’s brother Oscar also spent a short time on Geelong’s list.

The AFL greats were all forced to drop everything and head to Noosa for the lavish event, with Lyon, in particular, missing many of his normal media commitments around footy.

Billy Brownless, too, missed his Triple M show and called in live from the day-after celebrations after co-host James Brayshaw spoke on the “society wedding”.

“(It was) beautiful,” Brownless said, having walked his daughter down the aisle.

“I’ve had a couple of limoncellos so I’m a bit dusty. We got dropped off at this beautiful area and there was just limoncellos.

“I didn’t think they had any alcohol in them and after about seven I had a look and they’re nine per cent!”

He said the ceremony was “magnificent and emotional” — and repeated the poem he said he offered during speeches.

“When your daughters get married, it’s from the heart,” Brownless said, adding that

“I’ll give you a bit of the poem. ‘Roses are red. Violets are blue. I love you from here to Timbuktu’.”

After a whirlwind romance, Ruby and Josh announced they were engaged at the end of 2022 while holidaying on Hayman Island.

And the wedding has become a highly anticipated event, with Ruby drip-feeding photos to her 37,000 Instagram followers and declaring a few days ago: “Wedding week begins!”

There was also excitement around another guest who had recently started seeing one of Ruby’s good friend.

That guest is US country singer-songwriter Zach Bryan who has recently sparked up a relationship with influencer Hannah Duncan.

Their relationship has caused a stir in the States after Bryan’s high-profile break-up with podcaster Brianna ‘Chickenfry’ LaPaglia, with the latter accusing Bryan of emotional abuse.

The Brownless family are expecting to attend another family wedding soon, after Lyon proposed to Nicky at the end of 2023.

Their relationship was considered scandalous when it first became public in 2016 with Lyon a very close friend of Nicky’s husband at the time, Billy.

Lyon and Billy were both born in the same year (1967), both played as key forwards, and made their debuts in 1986.

They also retired within a couple of years of each other and later appeared together on The Footy Show.

Lyon is a two-time best-and-fairest winner, a former captain, and a three-time All-Australian.

He was once considered to be a coach in waiting and took charge of the Australian team for an International Rules series against Ireland in 2001.

His coaching career never came to be, however, and instead chose to pursue a career in media in which he also excelled.