Alex Ryan

Alex Ryan is the oldest son of Liz and Harry Ryan. He is the brother of Nick Ryan. Alex is the father of Xander. Alex is portrayed by Aaron Jefferies.

Early Life
Alex was born 8 months after the wedding of Harry and Liz. Liz created the lie that Alex was premature when he was actually full-term. He grew up on Killarney and later got a little brother, Nick.

Season 1
Alex is first seen in his helicopter, flying over the Drover's cattle. Claire looks up and waves at him. Alex has a history as a bit of a bad boy, a bit of a larrikin. His relationship with his father, Harry Ryan, was always explosive. He's been in fist fights with his brother Nick as well. He's a risk taker, a former rodeo star, a favourite with women and an easy friend to the men he works with. He's a great farmer too, if not a great stickler for detail, and he has the respect of all who know him well.

Season 4
Claire McLeod was the love of Alex's life — her death was a terrible blow. Alex and Stevie create a rodeo school, to help keep Alex distracted from his personal turmoil. Alex gradually got back on his feet and found ways to open his heart again. His great mate, Stevie Hall, helped him through the darkness, and their friendship gradually grew into something much more. During this time, he became an uncle to Harrison, Nick's son and had a short relationship with Claire's cousin, Jaz McLeod.

Season 5
During his time running Killarney, Alex has had more than a few battles with father Harry and mother-in-law Sandra, and more than one chance to evaluate where his life is heading. He nearly died in a water tank accident (saved by Stevie) and helped Rose come to terms with having Stevie as her mother, not her aunty. He had a falling out with Harry and went bush after losing his brother. After a stinging personal attack from father Harry, Alex fled to the city where he became engaged to Fiona. Little did he realise that Stevie was about to profess her love to him.

Season 6
It took Alex a long time to realise his marriage to Fiona was doomed, and that he should have married Stevie instead. During this time, Alex had to deal with the death of his father and the realisation that his stepmother Sandra had murdered him. Alex also had to deal with Fiona's lies. Fiona told Alex that she was in Paris for 6 months when she was actually in Melbourne, engaged to another man before she met Alex. Stevie finds out about her secret engagement and tells Alex. Fiona's lies unravel when Alex confronts her during their engagement party. She finally tells the truth about her ex-fiancée, who cheated on her with her best friend and to add to the drama, she tells Alex that she's pregnant. Despite this, Alex is determined to make his marriage work. As the wedding approaches, Alex pressures Fiona to choose Stevie as her bridesmaid, much to the dismay of both women. When Fiona falls off a horse, Stevie pressures her to see a doctor because of her pregnancy but Fiona brushes it off, leaving Stevie suspicious. She suspects she's not pregnant and during the hen's night, Stevie confronts Fiona. Stevie tells Fiona, “either tell Alex you’re not pregnant, or I will”. Fiona promises Stevie to tell Alex the truth and then takes off in the morning and tells Alex she wants to get married right away without waiting for the guest. Alex agrees and she and Alex elope in a distant paddock and have the party at Killarney. During the party, Fiona makes a snide comment to Stevie that Alex loves her and that if she wants to lose a friend, tell him the truth. She later found out she couldn't have any children. Fiona then faked a miscarriage to get herself out of the situation and left Alex heartbroken after thinking he's lost his first child. Fiona then tells him that she can't have any children but doesn't tell him about the pregnancy or the miscarriage. After much soul searching, Alex ended his marriage to Fiona but she takes off on a motorbike and has an accident. But by then, events had conspired to drive Alex and Stevie apart. Desperate to get Fiona out of his life, Alex agreed to a massive divorce settlement. To afford this he accepted an offer from his birth father, shrewd city barrister Bryce Redstaff, to invest in Killarney. Bryce's offer seemed like a good idea at the time.

Season 7
After the big divorce settlement, Alex meets his half-brother Marcus, who works for Bryce. He was sent to meet Alex and protect Bryce's investment. Alex and Stevie are in turmoil with each other after Alex sees Stevie kissing Drew, the old main manager at Kinsella's at Drovers. Stevie and Alex eventually make up and they get together. At a rodeo, they have a secret rendezvous at the hotel. Stevie finally tells the town about her and Alex. Alex plans an extravagant proposal. But the plan goes awry after their truck with the ring inside, gets stolen. Stevie then finds the ring in a pile of cow manure and asks him about it. They become engaged and start to plan the wedding. Then Bryce speaks up, wanting them to sign a pre-nuptial agreement. Alex then bets on Marcus´ new racehorse and ends up winning, forcing Bryce to forget about the pre-nuptial agreement. Things are thrown around when Stevie´s estranged mother turns up for the hens and bucks laser skirmish evening. At the end of the battle, Stevie and Alex go head to head but they get distracted when Alex says, ¨When we´re married, lets never fight about something this pointless,¨ and goes in for a kiss. Stevie shoots him with the laser gun and jokingly points out, ¨We´re not married yet,¨ and the hens win the skirmish. The wedding day arrives and Alex is heading into town with Marcus when they spot a man on the side of the road with a cattle trailer. He asks the boys to take the bull to ´Robertson´ while he waits for the tow-truck. They start heading away when a cop pulls them over and lets them know that the bull is actually stolen and that there is no such as ´Robertson´. He takes them to the station and locks them up.