From 1982-84 Cliff played for the Gundagai Tigers. In 1985, Cliff joined the North Sydney Bears. Cliff played 24 games for North Sydney over 1 season (7 tries, 4 goals, 1 field goal). Cliff played for Leeds Rhinos in the 1985-86 season. In 1986, Cliff joined the Manly Sea Eagles. Clif was a Manly’s Grand Final team member in 1987, 1995-97 (premierships in 1987 and 1996). Cliff played 316 games for Manly over 14 seasons (81 tries, 5 goals, 6 field goals). Cliff joined the Sheffield Eagles for the 1986-87 season. Cliff rejoined Leeds Rhinos for the 1988-89 season. Cliff joined the Umina Bunnies in 2000 as captain-coach. Cliff played 2 seasons for Umina. Cliff played for the Hornsby Lions and Narweena Hawks until 2006.
Cliff played 6 games for New South Wales from 1987-91 (1 try). Cliff played 6 test matches for Australia from 1990-91 (2 tries).
Cliff coached the Naraweena Hawks to back-to-back premierships in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, Cliff coached the Manly Sea Eagles reserve grade side. In 2013, Cliff returned to coach Naraweena.
In 1987, Cliff won the Clive Churchill Medal. In 1990 and 1994, Cliff won the Dally M Medal. In 2008, Cliff was selected as the Lock in the Indigenous Team of the Century. In 2018, Cliff was inducted into the NRL Hall of Fame. The A-Grade player in the Manly Rugby League is awarded the Cliff Lyons medal. Cliff is the Patron of the Manly Junior Rugby League. In 2022 the Fulton-Menzies Grandstand was renamed the Lyon-Menzies Grandstand.