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Darren Lockyer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Darren Lockyer | |
| Date of birth | March 24, 1977 | |
| Place of birth | Brisbane, Australia | |
| Height | 1.78 m | |
| Weight | 85 kg | |
| Position | Five-Eighth, Fullback | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Brisbane Broncos | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| Roma Cities | ||
| Professional clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (points) |
| 1995-present | Brisbane | 263 (1,093) |
| Representative teams** | ||
| 1998-2006 1998-2006 |
Queensland Australia |
24 (69) 35 |
|
* Professional club appearances and points |
||
Darren Lockyer (born March 24, 1977, Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian rugby league player and is the current captain of the Brisbane Broncos, Queensland and Australian rugby league teams. Lockyer is now considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of Rugby League. He is also one of the most scrutinized and criticized players of recent times, as some say he performed better at his old position of fullback, than his current position at five-eighth.
Lockyer endured heavy criticism early in 2006 but responded by having quite possibly his finest ever year, becoming the only person to ever complete the trifecta of captaining winning teams in the National Rugby League premiership, the State of Origin series, and the Tri-Nations series, as well as winning the golden boot award for best international rugby league player in the world.
Contents |
Recruited by former Queensland Test half, Cyril Connell, Darren Lockyer made his first grade debut with the Broncos as an eighteen year-old five-eighth in 1995. Lockyer quickly showed his versatility in the centres and at fullback, proving himself as a creative attacking player, a safe defender under the high ball and an exceptional goal-kicker. He was moved permanently to fullback midway through the 1996 season.
Lockyer first gained selection honours for Queensland as fullback in their second Super League Tri-series match against New South Wales. The following year he became the regular Queensland Maroons' fullback for the State of Origin. He also played at fullback in the Broncos' premiership-winning teams of 1997, 1998 and 2000.
Lockyer's try-scoring and goal-kicking ability made him the top point-scorer for the club in 1997 and 1998. In 2000 he was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal for best and fairest player on the field in the Broncos' Grand Final win. Also that year he received the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in the sport of rugby league. Along with Lote Tuqiri and Chris Walker, Lockyer was the Broncos' top try-scorer in the 2002 season and won the club's player of the year award for the 2002 and 2003 seasons.
With the retirement of Gorden Tallis from representative football, Lockyer has become the captain of both the Queensland and Australian teams. He gained media attention at the start of the 2004 season when he made a careless joke about the Bulldogs gang rape allegation at a Queensland sports function [1]. Being the Australian Captain, Lockyer was rebuked by national officials and quickly apologised for the comment, but couldn't stop it from making headlines.
In 2004, Broncos' coach Wayne Bennett moved Lockyer from fullback to five-eighth. This move has seen mixed results for Lockyer, initially it was described as a masterstroke and by the end of 2004 he was being earmarked by many as the world's best player. Recently however criticism has developed that the defensive workload required at five-eighth is too large for him and that he should move back to his old position of fullback. In spite of this Lockyer is adamant that his fullback days are behind him. With the large amount of suggestions that Lockyer should be moved back to fullback, he has hit back in the best possible way; playing some of the best football that we have seen from him in five-eighth.
Experienced (and biased) Rugby League commentators continue to question Lockyer's abilities as a five-eighth during repesenative matches. After a poor start to the 2006 season after a 36-4 loss to the North Queensland Cowboys at Suncorp Stadium in Round 1, critics had really started to push him in relations to moving to fullback and losing his spot on both the Australian and Queensland squad. It was said that the Queensland selectors would have Jonathon Thurston at Five-Eighth, and Scott Prince at halfback, who has not played State of Origin after the 2004 series loss (when he was dumped to make way for Johnathan Thurston).
However, after the ANZAC test, with Australia defeating New Zealand 50-12, critics have eased off for the moment. Darren Lockyer made a huge comeback with some of the best performances at his Five-Eighth spot, and eventually change the Queensland selectors minds. They accepted Darren Lockyer as Five-Eighth and Captain.
More pressure and criticism came onto Darren Lockyer after the Maroons lost to the Blues 17-16, while suffering a very poor start to the first half. Lockyer was eligible for losing his position again, but since improved in Bronco matches, defeating the Bulldogs 25-6, then the Warriors 23-18, he then retained his spot on the Queensland side. Queensland then made an impressive comeback in Origin, thumping the Blues 30-6, which resulted in the NSW selectors and the coach scratching their heads. Darren Lockyer was name the Man of the Match. He later cemented his position as one of the all-time greats by scoring the series winning try in game three and receiving the Wally Lewis medal (man of the series honours) in the deciding State of Origin match (July 5th 2006).
In the latter half of the 2006 season, After a 5 losing game slump, the Broncos found guidance under Lockyer and won their final three premiership games of the season. All three games the Broncos won easily: 30-0 over the Canterbury Bulldogs, 23-0 over the Parramatta Eels and 36-12 over the New Zealand Warriors. Lockyer was steering his team to a 6th Priemiership success. He was awarded man of the match award in the prelimenry final against Canterbury Bulldogs after leading the side to a miraculous comeback win after trailing 20-6 down to come up 37-20. He then steered his team to win the 2006 Grand Final with the score 15-8, setting up both tries and then kicking a winning field goal in the 73rd minute. This is the 4th time he personally won a premiership and the 6th time overall for the Broncos. The win completed a dream year for him in which he captained not only the Broncos to the NRL premiership but also Queensland to an Origin series win, Australia to an Anzac Test win and captaining his country to their win in the Tri-Nations tournament.
2006 is a season Darren Lockyer will never forget. He was captain and top try-scorer (together with Tame Tupou) for the Brisbane Broncos, who won the Premiership with a 15-8 win against the Melbourne Storm in the Grand Final (which Lockyer sealed the win with a field goal). He was also captain for the Queensland State of Origin team, who won the series 2-1, and scored the try to win the series for Queensland in game 3. Also, Lockyer was captain for Australia who won the Anzac Test 50-12 (with Lockyer bagging a double) and won the Tri-nations Final against New Zealand 16-12 in extra Time with Lockyer scoring the match-winning try.
He was also named Dally M five-eighth and rep player of the year; Broncos best back and people's choice player of the year; was a finalist in the Queensland Sports Star of the Year award and was named - for the second time - the Golden Boot award winner as best rugby league player in the world. Recently he has also captained the Queensland team to victory in the Harvey Norman Beach Footy Competition.
Although still contracted to the Broncos for a further 3 years, Lockyer has recently spoken of his desire to one day play in the European Super League competition. If fit enough and still maintaining a love for the game, a move to Super League could well be on the cards for Lockyer in the future. Lockyer has had plenty of experience playing on British soil, first touring there back in 1997 with the Laurie Daley-led Australian Super League side on their tour of Great Britain.
- Captain 2005-present
- Highest Ever Point-Scorer with 1,077 Club Points (as of 1 October 2006)
- Most points in one season: 272 in 1998
- First Grade Debut v Eels 1995
- Dally M. Medal Five-Eighth of the Year 2006
- Dally M. Medal Representitive Player of the Year 2006
- Changed Position from Fullback to Five-Eighth at start of 2004 at request of Wayne Bennett
- Club Player of the Year 2002,2003
- Club Rookie of the Year 1995
- Club Best Back Award 2001,2002,2003,2006
- Clive Churchill Medal Winner 2000
- Member of the 3rd Broncos Premiership Winning Team in 1997
- Member of the 4th Broncos Premiership Winning Team in 1998
- Member of the 5th Broncos Premiership Winning Team in 2000
- Member of the 6th Broncos Premiership Winning Team in 2006 and also Captain.
- Member of the 1997 Super League World Club Challenge winning Broncos side.
(Correct to July 5 2006)
- Played in 24 State of Origin Games
- Man of the Match 3 times
- Played 2 Tri-Series Matches for Queensland during the 1997 Super League Season (1 goal; 2 points)
- Captained in 10 State of Origin Games
- Wally Lewis Medal for player of the series, 2006
- 6 Tries from 24 Games
- 22 from 30 Goals from 24 Games
- 1 Field Goal from 24 Games
- 69 Points from 24 Games
- Part of the Series Winning Sides in 1998
- Captain of the Series Winning Sides in 2006
- 35 Test Matches for Australia (correct to November 26 2006)
- Played in 4 test matches during the 1997 Super League Season (2 tries; 2 goals; 1 field goal; 13 points)
- Australian Kangaroos Captain 2003-present (19 of his 35 games as captain)(correct to November 26 2006)
- 26 Tries from 35 games (correct to November 26 2006)
- 2nd Highest Kangaroos try-Scorer with Reg Gasnier, and behind Ken Irvine (33 tries).
- 5 World Cup Matches for Australia
- 2 Tries and 4 Goals in World Cup Matches
- Golden Boot Award for International Player of the Year 2003
- Golden Boot Award for International Player of the Year 2006
- Joint top try scorer in the Tri-Nations
| Preceded by Gorden Tallis 2001-2004 |
Captain Brisbane Broncos rugby league 2005- |
Succeeded by incumbent |
| Preceded by Brett Kimmorley (Melbourne Storm) |
Clive Churchill Medallist 2000 |
Succeeded by Andrew Johns (Newcastle Knights) |
| Brisbane Broncos |
|---|
| The Club Representatives • History • Records • Honours • Players • Venues |
| Seasons 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 |
| Stadiums Lang Park/Suncorp Stadium • ANZ Stadium |
| Captains Wally Lewis (1988-1989) • Gene Miles (1990-1991) • Allan Langer (1992-1999) Kevin Walters (1999-2000) • Gorden Tallis (2001-2004) • Darren Lockyer (2005-present) |
| Coaches Wayne Bennett (1988-present) |