League: Lockyer vows clean break with football

Darren Lockyer of the Kangaroos. Photo / Getty Images

Darren Lockyer insists he has no intentions of ever joining the coaching ranks when he ends his glittering rugby league career next Saturday.

The Australia, Queensland and Brisbane skipper will lead the Kangaroos side out in the Four Nations final for the last time at Elland Road, for his 471st senior game in all competitions.

Although Lockyer will take up an ambassadorial role with the Broncos, don't expect to see him at any time in the future follow in the footsteps of two of his mentors, Wayne Bennett and Mal Meninga.

"Over the years I've pondered it," Lockyer said in Manchester on Saturday.

"As you come to the end of your career, you start to think 'what's for me next'?

"Coaching was one of those options, but as I got towards the end I felt that a part of the reason why I wanted to finish playing was to get out of the pressure-cooker environment.

"When you're playing for Queensland, Australia and the Broncos, they're all high-profile teams. Being captain brings extra responsibility and pressure.

"Going into coaching you won't escape that. And I think for me, it's important to get out of the environment where expectation to perform at a high level is constant."

A media career is set to beckon for Lockyer in Brisbane with the Nine Network.

And although he will still be associated with the Broncos, he's determined to withdraw fully from the football side of the club as he weans himself off the game.

"I will be acting as a corporate ambassador for the Broncos and I'll still be around the club as I have a lot of friends there who still play there," he said.

"But I won't have any direct involvement with the football team - that is something I need to do."

- AAP