Rugby League: Australia's little fullback now big man in the game

By PETER JESSUP

For Darren Lockyer, the 2001 season has been all about maturing.

Lockyer has looked the goods as an international fullback in all but his first test, against New Zealand at North Harbour Stadium in 1997, when Frank Endacott's team targeted the 19-year-old and won the game on his mistakes.

This year, aged 24, he has been elevated to the captaincy with the Broncos and Queensland, and has proved his worth at both.

"That's in the past," the speedster said yesterday when reminded of his Albany debut.

Fresher in his mind is the 44-0 touch-up Brisbane suffered at the hands of the Newcastle Knights in the last NRL round.

Even Origin Three and the series win over New South Wales has been pushed aside as he seeks a way to erase the last-up defeat when he faces the Kiwis on Friday night.

Lockyer took over the Brisbane captaincy when Gordon Tallis suffered a season-ending back injury in mid-March.

But he has not found leadership tough in tough teams. "It's been a good season so far - the boys are all professionals, I don't have to do much."

In Origin Three, all he did was to set up two early tries with devastating breaks from the back, score two tries and kick four goals as the Maroons hacked the Blues down 40-14. It was man-of-the-match stuff, but Alfie Langer stole his thunder.

Lockyer's metreage on kick-return is the best in the competition, his broken-play running nothing short of spectacular.

He is now completely solid under the high ball that hurt back at Albany. He is defensively near-perfect. And at 176cm and 86kg he's in the small-size bracket as far as NRL players go.

You would go a long way to find a player with better ball skills, which is obviously what Broncos scout Cyril Connell thought when he saw the young Darren playing for the only team in his home-town of Roma, west of Brisbane.

Lockyer had been an Aussie Rules player up to the age of seven. "I'd probably still be playing it now," he said yesterday "but there was no AFL in town."

The ageing Connell, formerly the coach at staunch Catholic league schools in the state, has picvked plenty of great players for the Broncos - Langer and the Walters brothers Steve, Kerrod and Kevin, and more lately the Walker boys Chris, Shane and Ben (now at the Eagles).

Lockyer is now the type of player a club builds a side around. He could command huge money, but is happy where he is, in a country he knows, in a club team who win around 75 per cent of their games.

The Kangaroos win an even greater percentage of their matches and Lockyer is not here to lose. He is pleased the Australian selectors followed their pre-Origin promise that they would use the series as a guide and pick on form. That elevated six of his team-mates to the green and gold - props Shane Webcke and Petero Civoniceva, second-rowers Brad Meyers and Dane Carlaw, and wingers Wendell Sailor and Lote Tuqiri.

"I'm looking forward to playing with this side. There's a good mix, plenty of power," Lockyer said.

He knows the Kiwis will be a different proposition from the World Cup or Anzac sides of 2000.

"They always grow a foot taller over here. It will be tough."

As for personal goals for Friday night? "As a fullback you always want a dry night and a hard and fast track. I want the ball in my hands. The main thing is, I want to enjoy myself."

* Lockyer had an unfortunate entry to New Zealand yesterday when he was slapped with a $200 fine by New Zealand customs.

He breached the Biosecurity Act by failing to declare "organic matter" on his football boots.

Australian trainer Greg Pierce was also hit with a $200 penalty when grass clippings were found on training cones.

Both opted to pay their fines rather than face a hearing.