Thomas gathered 30 possessions and kicked two goals on Sunday and is the only player to have earned a perfect 10 votes in the AFLCA Champion Player of the Year award for the round.
The premiership midfielder's performance on Sunday, and his stellar form this season prompted Lyon to consider where Thomas was rated among the top players.
"I was watching the Collingwood-West Coast game yesterday and asked Rob Harvey, 'is he the best player in the competition?' " Lyon said on Monday.
"Everyone has talked about [Brendon] Goddard's finals.
"But what Thomas did in the finals and the Grand Finals, what he does without the ball, against Adelaide, he turned that team around with his fanatical chasing.
"He covers that much territory. He's unbelievable. I really admire him.
"Not only what he can do with the ball - you saw his left-foot snap [against West Coast on Sunday] - but he'll run from the forward pocket to the back pocket to spoil the ball and get in the way. He chases down, he's really inspirational to watch."
Thomas has now moved into the top 10 players in the race to be crowned AFLCA Champion Player of the Year for the first time with a total of 32 votes.
Geelong forward Steve Johnson's career best seven-goal haul wasn't enough to earn him a perfect 10 or the accolades from coach Chris Scott.
"It was nowhere near the best game I have seen Steve Johnson play," Scott said
Carlton coach Brett Ratten and Melbourne coach Dean Bailey were split on the best performer in the Blues win over the Demons.
Dual Brownlow medallist Chris Judd and 2005 No.1 draft pick Marc Murphy both shared the honours with nine votes each, and as a result jump into first and second place respectively on the leaderboard.
Essendon skipper Jobe Watson's hamstring injury has allowed the Carlton duo to catch up to Watson with the Bomber bumped to third place stranded on 43 votes.
Melbourne v Carlton
9 Chris Judd (Carl)
9 Marc Murphy (Carl)
4 Bryce Gibbs (Carl)
4 Mitch Robinson (Carl)
2 Michael Jamison (Carl)
2 Heath Scotland (Carl)
North Melbourne v Sydney Swans
7 Tadgh Kennelly (Syd)
6 Andrew Swallow (NM)
6 Scott Thompson (NM)
5 Daniel Wells (NM)
4 Heath Grundy (Syd)
2 Rhyce Shaw (Syd)
Fremantle v St Kilda
6 Leigh Montagna (STK)
5 Nick Dal Santo (STK)
4 Sam Gilbert (STK)
4 Clinton Jones (STK)
3 Sam Fisher (STK)
3 Adam Schneider (STK)
2 Jack Steven (STK)
2 Sean Dempster (STK)
1 James Gwilt (STK)
Gold Coast v Geelong
9 Steve Johnson (Geel)
9 James Kelly (Geel)
5 Joel Selwood (Geel)
3 Gary Ablett (GC)
3 Zac Smith (GC)
1 Andrew Mackie (Geel)
Richmond v Port Adelaide
7 Travis Boak (Port)
5 Dean Brogan (Port)
4 Alipate Carlile (Port)
4 Nathan Foley (Rich)
4 Bachar Houli (Rich)
3 Danyle Pearce (Port)
2 Kane Cornes (Port)
1 Robbie Gray (Port)
Adelaide v Brisbane Lions
9 Mitch Clark (Bris)
8 Simon Black (Bris)
6 Daniel Merrett (Bris)
3 Scott Thompson (Adel)
2 Pearce Hanley (Bris)
1 Joel Patfull (Bris)
1 Ben Rutten (Adel)
Collingwood v West Coast
10 Dale Thomas (Coll)
5 Scott Pendlebury (Coll)
4 Harry O'Brien (Coll)
3 Luke Ball (Coll)
3 Leon Davis (Coll)
2 Matt Priddis (WCE)
2 Ben Reid (Coll)
1 Andrew Krakouer (Coll)
Western Bulldogs v Hawthorn
9 Josh Gibson (Haw)
8 Luke Hodge (Haw)
6 Brent Guerra (Haw)
4 Ryan Griffen (WB)
2 Grant Birchall (Haw)
1 Dale Morris (WB)
Leaderboard
46 Chris Judd (Carl)
44 Marc Murphy (Carl)
43 Jobe Watson (Ess)
37 Lance Franklin (Haw)
36 Joel Selwood (Geel)
35 Brent Moloney (Melb)
34 Dean Cox (WCE)
33 Matthew Boyd (WB)
32 Dale Thomas (Coll)
32 Scott Thompson (Adel)
