Darren James Lockyer (born 24 March 1977) is an Australian television commentator and former professional rugby league footballer. Lockyer was an Australian international and Queensland State representative captain, who played his entire professional career with the Brisbane Broncos. He is considered one of the greatest players of all time in two positions, fullback and five-eighth.
During his 16-year career he set appearance records for his club, state, and country, and also set additional all-time records for most National Rugby League appearances, most State of Origin appearances, most games as captain, and most tries for the Australian national team.
As a , Lockyer won three grand finals and one as a five-eighth with the Broncos, a World Cup with Australia, and the Golden Boot Award for the world's best player. He was named in Queensland Rugby League's Team of the Century (1909–2008) at fullback. He switched positions to in 2004 and went on to win a fourth grand final with the Broncos, a further five State of Origin series with Queensland, and a second Golden Boot Award.
Background
Lockyer was born in Brisbane, Queensland. His father, David, played Australian rules football for ten years in Brisbane with Morningside and introduced Darren to the game at four years of age.
Two years later, Lockyer started playing Aussie rules for Springwood, finishing runner-up in the best and fairest award in his first season. The following season he won the club's best and fairest award by 17 votes, despite having to travel 800 kilometres every weekend to play when the family moved to the small country town of Wandoan midway through the season. Travelling commitments and a lack of Australian rules football clubs around the Wandoan area forced him to quit the game and take up rugby league.
He played rugby league for school and club in Wandoan for four years before moving to Roma and playing for the Cities Gladiators. He made his first grade debut at 15 and played Five Eight for his Roma club.Former Origin Greats – Darren Lockyer In 1990 Queensland Rugby League Development Officer, Glenn Bayliss, spotted the young Lockyer while visiting Roma. After returning to Toowoomba he passed on his views on to Brisbane Broncos talent scout Cyril Connell and Connell followed his progress over the next few years. In 1994, he traveled to Ipswich for a junior rugby league carnival where his performance caught the eye of coach Wayne Bennett. After impressing at the carnival, he moved to Brisbane and accepted a $2000 scholarship with the Broncos. In 2011, it was reported that former Parramatta player Steve Ella who was a scout for the club at the time had spoken with the Parramatta board stating that he had seen a young Lockyer at the carnival and that they should sign him. The Parramatta board reportedly knocked back Ella's suggestion. Lockyer later said in an interview that he did speak with Ella about moving to Parramatta saying "Steve Ella was the first guy to come and talk to my family. As a kid you knew the scouts who were watching and I remember the boys from Roma (where Lockyer grew up) would go to Sydney for trials. "It would have been a big move for me at that age and I was always keen to try my luck with the Broncos. It wasn't long after he (Ella) saw me that I got a scholarship with the Broncos and that's how it has played out". He also worked as a bartender at the Broncos Leagues Club to make ends meet. Later that year, he signed a $10,000 playing contract with the Broncos.
Playing career Lockyer made his professional first-grade debut with the Brisbane Broncos from the bench as an eighteen-year-old in a 60–14 thrashing of the Parramatta Eels in Round 13 of the 1995 ARL season. In this game he threw a try assist to Steve Renouf, a combination which would blossom over the next few seasons. He went on to be named the 1995 Brisbane Broncos season's rookie of the year, playing 11 games at centre, five-eighth and off the bench, scoring 3 tries and kicking 4 goals in a game where primary goal kicker Julian O'Neill was injured. He also kicked the first field goal of his career to clinch a 27–20 win over the Gold Coast Seagulls in Round 21. Lockyer played most of the 1996 ARL season from the interchange bench, but also played fullback, wing, centre and five-eighth, finishing with 20 games played, scoring 7 tries and kicking 13 goals. Unfortunately for the Broncos, they had a rare period of failure, and despite finishing top 4 in both 1995 and 1996, they were unable to win a single finals game across those 2 years.
Fullback 1997 Lockyer was moved permanently to the position by coach Wayne Bennett at the beginning of the 1997 Super League season, replacing Australian former international winger Willie Carne, who had played fullback for the Broncos in 1996, with Lockyer also taking over the full-time goal kicking duties from Carne.
He first gained representative honours for Queensland that season in the second Super League Tri-series match against New South Wales.
Lockyer's try-scoring and goal-kicking ability made him the top point-scorer of the 1997 Brisbane Broncos season, and he played a key role in the Broncos side which finished 1st in the Super League table, while also winning the World Club Challenge, the Final being a 36–12 win over the Hunter Mariners. Lockyer won his first finals match as Brisbane dismissed the Cronulla Sharks 34–2, before rematching the Sharks in the Grand Final where the Broncos won a much closer game 26–8. Lockyer kicked 10 goals from 13 attempts across those 2 matches, bringing his season tally to 8 tries and 70 goals.
At the end of the 1997 season Lockyer made his international debut when he was selected to play at fullback for Australia in all three games of the Super League Test series against Great Britain in England. He kicked two goals and one field goal during the series, which was won by Australia. Unfortunately, these matches do not count towards his official representative statistics as the IRLF refused to validate Super League internationals as test matches, even though the NRL recognises Super League matches as official first grade appearances.
1998 In the re-unified 1998 NRL season, Lockyer was selected as the Queensland team's fullback and goal-kicker for all three games of their successful 1998 State of Origin series, in which he was the top point-scorer.
Lockyer also made his debut for the Australian team against New Zealand, becoming Kangaroo No. 661. His debut game was shocking, making some poor mistakes which led to a 22–16 New Zealand win and the departure of long-time Australian coach Bob Fulton.
He was again top point-scorer for Brisbane that year, smashing the club record of 193 for most points in a season by scoring 272, coming from a career high 19 tries and 90 goals. By this time, Lockyer's playing style in attack was already being likened to that of a five-eighth. Despite the competition being unified and ARL powerhouses Newcastle Knights, Sydney City Roosters and Parramatta Eels as well as competition debutants Melbourne Storm having chances to dethrone them, Brisbane finished the season on top of the table, tied record wise with Newcastle but with a nearly 200 point advantage in point differential thanks to a host of big wins, 3 by more than 50 points, as well as a stoic defence which did not concede more than 28 points across both the regular season and finals. Brisbane came into the finals on a 12 game unbeaten streak (11 wins, 1 draw versus Balmain), but were stunned 15–10 against Parramatta in the Major Semi, thrusting them into sudden death football. Lockyer scored his first finals try in the loss, and continued his rich tryscoring form with another in a 30–6 win over Melbourne, before he scored a spectacular hat trick in a 46–18 win over the Roosters to help Brisbane secure second consecutive Grand Final berth. Lockyer started at fullback against the Canterbury Bulldogs, who had qualified despite finishing the regular season in 9th place, and helped the Broncos dismantle them 38–12 to secure the club's 4th premiership.
Due to his performance, he earned Dally M Fullback Of The Year honours for the first time.
Lockyer made his official State of Origin debut, playing all 3 games in Queensland's series victory.
And despite his shocking debut, Lockyer was retained in the Australian squad for their 2 end of season tests against New Zealand, scoring a try in both of Australia's victories.
1999 Lockyer's goal-kicking duties at the Broncos were shifted to teammates Ben Walker and Michael De Vere in 1999.
Lockyer was not selected in the first 2 Origin matches, but returned for the 3rd ahead of Robbie O'Davis, whose 22 game suspension the previous season was why Lockyer had been selected. Lockyer scored his first Origin try to help Queensland to a 10-all draw, which was enough for the Maroons to retain the shield. Those first 2 games were the last time where he was overlooked for Queensland, excluding games missed due to injury.
Lockyer featured in all 4 of Australia's matches in 1999, and was even sin-binned in the Kangaroos' win against the Kiwis in the final of the post-season 1999 Tri-nations tournament, having scored 2 tries to help them qualify for the match with a big win over Great Britain.
Despite Lockyer's individual performance, the year went terribly for the Broncos- the club was only able to salvage 1 win and a draw from their first 10 matches, a situation which worsened when club legend Allan Langer retired midseason. Brisbane sat 17th after 10 games, but 12 wins and a draw from their last 14 matches saw them scrape into the finals, a single point ahead of 9th placed Canberra. Brisbane were drawn the tough task of minor premiers Cronulla in the first week of the finals, and the Sharks gained revenge for 1997 with a 42–20 win to end the Broncos season.
2000 Lockyer played at fullback in all three matches of the 2000 State of Origin series in which Queensland suffered a 3–0 series whitewash by New South Wales.
At club level, the Broncos had returned to the top of the NRL thanks to Bennett's new gameplan, and Brisbane ran away with the minor premiership, winning 2 more games on top of 2 more draws than the 2nd placed Roosters, again having the best attack and best defence in the league. Brisbane reversed a 20–6 half time deficit to gain revenge on the Sharks with a 32–20 win, which saw them sent to a Preliminary final showdown against Parramatta, which they won 16–10. Brisbane met the Roosters in the Grand Final, where Lockyer won the Clive Churchill Medal as man of the match in their 14–6 victory.
Lockyer, having featured in Australia's 2–0 win over New Zealand and 82–0 battering of Papua New Guinea, Lockyer was selected in Australia's 2000 World Cup squad, playing 5 games including the 40–12 win over New Zealand in the Final. By this time Lockyer was being called the best fullback in the world.
Also in 2000 he received the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in the sport of rugby league
2001
Having won the 2000 NRL Premiership, the Broncos traveled to England to play against 2000's Super League V champions, St Helens, for the 2001 World Club Challenge, with Lockyer playing at in Brisbane's loss.
In March 2001, Lockyer was approached by the Australian Football League club Essendon regarding an unprecedented switch of codes, and was offered a contract subsequent to a successful trial. However Lockyer chose to stay committed to rugby league.