Alex McKinnon shares loved-up selfie with new girlfriend Lily Malone, 22, two years after ex-NRL player’s marriage to Teigan Power ended

Alex McKinnon’s romance with his new girlfriend Lily Malone is alive and well.

The quadriplegic former NRL player shared a photo on Instagram Stories on Monday showing the two cuddling together.

The 32-year-old’s love sat on his lap for the sweet selfie, snuggling up to each other as they posed for the camera.

Alex looked completely in love, hugging the 22-year-old and smiling broadly for the cute photo.

The athlete went public in March with the glamorous young social worker, who is ten years his junior.

The former Newcastle Knights player and fellow Newcastle University student both shared an image with their arms around each other on their Instagram pages at the time.

McKinnon posted the photo of them both dressed in pink at Malone’s 22nd birthday party, just hours before the NRL season opener kicked off in Las Vegas.

Moments later, Malone debuted McKinnon on her own Instagram page, sharing the same photo with a love heart emoji.

Malone’s mother Monique did not deny the pair were an item when contacted by Ny Breaking Australia on Monday.

“I’m not going to comment on their relationship, that’s for them to comment on,” Ms Malone said.

Lily Malone is studying a BA in Social Work at the University of Newcastle, while McKinnon is studying Psychology and also works as an analyst for Fox Sports.

Malone – who works as a family liaison worker at Life Without Barriers – recently revealed that she will soon become a qualified social worker.

“Working with a small, dedicated team, I have developed an eight-session program specifically tailored to the unique needs of “parents of first-time juvenile offenders in a domestic violence context,” she recently posted on her LinkedIn page.

The athlete went public with the glamorous young social worker, who is ten years his junior, in March. The former Newcastle Knights player and fellow University of Newcastle student both shared an image with their arms around each other on their Instagram pages

McKinnon’s romance came after he split from ex-wife Teigan Power in January 2022, after five years of marriage, three children and his own horrific football accident that left him a quadriplegic.

When they separated, both parties confirmed that the divorce was amicable and that they were still committed to co-raising their children, twins Audrey and Violet and eldest daughter Harriet.

Power announced her engagement to her new love Jake Nelson at the end of last year.

Last year, McKinnon said he and Power still had a strong, close friendship.

“We’re still very close,” he told News Corp.

‘Being a parent is such an important job and having a strong relationship with their mother is just as important.

“We are still good friends, we both realize that we are role models for the kids and we have to show them that supporting each other is the only way to be that.”

McKinnon split from his ex-wife Teigan Power in January 2022. The former couple had three children: Harriet, aged four, and twins Audrey and Violet, aged two. All in the photo

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 on-field accident. He was only 22.

He suffered fractures to his C4 and C5 vertebrae in a dangerous tackle just before half-time of Newcastle’s round 3 match against the Melbourne Storm. McKinnon proposed to Power just a fortnight after breaking his spine.

McKinnon and Power married in October 2017 in an intimate ceremony in the NSW Hunter Valley.

The former Knights star promised his bride he would get out of his wheelchair when he popped the question, and he did just that at their wedding.

The couple was together for 12 years and married for five years before their relationship quietly ended.

McKinnon’s father Scott told Ny Breaking Australia at the time that McKinnon was “fine but it was very sad – what can you do?”

“I know he’s a good boy, but Alex is a private guy. It’s just very, very sad.”