Recruited by Melbourne from North Shore in 1977, Michael Byrne played 177 games of VFL/AFL football with Melbourne (56 games from 1977-1982), Hawthorn (100 games from 1982-1986) and Sydney Swans (21 games from 1987-1988). In 1983, Byrne was a member of the Hawthorn premiership team.
Michael finished his VFL career in 1988 with Sydney and coached North Shore in seasons 1994 and 1995. The Byrne family has a long history at North Shore with Michael's father Lionel captain coach of the 1961 senior premiership team and Lionel also returned to coach North Shore in seasons 1975 and 1976.