Alex McKinnon’s romance with new girlfriend Lily Malone is going from strength to strength.
The quadriplegic former NRL player shared a photo on Instagram Stories on Monday in which the pair were cuddled up.
The 32-year-old’s love sat on his lap to snap the sweet selfie, snuggling up together as they posed for the camera.
Alex looked absolutely smitten, cuddling up to the 22-year-old and smiling widely for the sweet snap.
The athlete made public his relationship with the glamorous young social worker, ten years his junior, in March.
The former Newcastle Knights player and his fellow Newcastle University student shared an image of each other hugging on their Instagram pages at the time.
McKinnon posted the photo of the pair dressed in pink at Malone’s 22nd birthday party just hours before the NRL season opener kicked off in Las Vegas.
Moments later, Malone featured McKinnon on his own Instagram page, sharing the same photo with a heart emoji.
Alex McKinnon’s romance with his new girlfriend Lily Malone is going from strength to strength. The quadriplegic former NRL player shared a photo on Instagram Stories on Monday showing the couple cuddling up.
Malone’s mother, Monique, did not deny the pair were an item when contacted by Daily Mail Australia on Monday.
“I’m not going to comment on their relationship, that’s something for them to comment on,” Ms Malone said.
Lily is studying a degree in social work at Newcastle University.
McKinnon studies psychology there and also works for Fox Sports as an analyst.
Malone, who works as a family contact worker at Life Without Barriers, recently shared that she will soon become a qualified social worker.
“In collaboration with a small, dedicated team, I have developed an eight-session program tailored to the unique needs of ‘parents of first-time youth offenders in a domestic violence context,'” she recently posted on her LinkedIn page.
The athlete went public with his relationship with the young and glamorous social worker, ten years his junior, in March. The former Newcastle Knights player and his fellow Newcastle University student shared a picture of themselves embracing on their Instagram pages.
McKinnon’s romance comes after he split from ex-wife Teigan Power in January 2022 after five years of marriage, three children and his own horrific accident on the football field that left him a quadriplegic.
In separating, both parties confirmed that the separation was amicable and that they remained committed to co-parenting their children, twins Audrey and Violet, and eldest daughter Harriet.
Power went public with her new love, Jake Nelson, late last year.
Last year, McKinnon said he and Power were still bound by a strong, close friendship.
“We’re still very close,” he told News Corp.
‘Being a father is a very important job and having a strong relationship with your mother is equally important.
“We are still good friends, we both realize that we are role models for children and we have to show them that supporting each other is the only way to be.”
McKinnon split from his ex-wife Teigan Power in January 2022. The former couple have three children together: four-year-old Harriet and two-year-old twins Audrey and Violet. All pictured
McKinnon proposed to his high school sweetheart from his hospital bed just days after his promising NRL career was cut short in March 2014 when he suffered a devastating spinal cord injury in a horrific accident at the playing field. He was just 22 years old.
He suffered fractures to his C4 and C5 vertebrae in a dangerous tackle near half-time of Newcastle’s round three clash with the Melbourne Storm. McKinnon proposed to Power just 14 days after breaking his spine.
McKinnon and Power married in an intimate ceremony in Hunter Valley, New South Wales, in October 2017.
The former Knights star promised his bride he would get out of his wheelchair when she popped the question, and he did just that at their wedding.
The couple were together for 12 years and married for five before their relationship quietly came to an end.
McKinnon’s father, Scott, told Daily Mail Australia at the time that McKinnon “was fine, but it’s really sad – what can you do?”
‘I know he’s a good guy, but Alex is a reserved guy. It’s very, very sad.’