Darren Lockyer

He was named in Queensland Rugby League's Team of the Century (1909-2008) at fullback.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

After impressing at the carnival, he moved to Brisbane and accepted a $2000 scholarship with the Broncos.

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.

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.

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.