RUGBY league giants Gene Miles and Mal Meninga have paid tribute to Darren Lockyer, whose stellar career finally drew to a close when he led Australia to victory in the Four Nations final in Leeds.

This season has been something of a retirement roadshow for Lockyer, with his final games for Brisbane in the NRL and for Queensland in State of Origin becoming massive affairs that captured the imagination of the Queensland public.

But his absolute finale came at the famous Elland Road ground in Yorkshire, where he helped lift the Kangaroos past a spirited English team to cap an astonishingly successful career.

Gene, the FOGS Executive Chairman and Queensland State of Origin selector, said Lockyer deserved to be ranked up with the greats of an era.

“Locky certainly was a once-in-a-generation player, and certainly right up there among the greatest players Queensland and Australia has produced,” Gene said. “Unfortunately, I never got to play alongside him. But I was fortunate in my career to play alongside Wally Lewis, Mal Meninga, and Allan Langer, and I certainly rate Darren up there with those guys.”

Gene said, among all the plaudits thrown Lockyer’s way during the course of his farewell season, it was the Queensland captain’s transition from fullback to five-eighth that rubber-stamped his greatness.

“I think sometimes we don’t give enough credit to Darren in what he achieved in being such a fantastic player in two very different positions,” Gene said.
“The leap he made, to go from the best fullback in the world to the best five-eighth in the world, is just incredible.

“We saw him play some wonderful games for Queensland at fullback. He was genuinely breathtaking with the way that he would come into the line.
“But at five-eighth, with all of that extra defensive work to do, he only got better.”

His Queensland coach Mal Meninga said Lockyer’s retirement would leave a massive hole, not just in the Maroons line-up but in the game itself.
“Everyone knows what a wonderful player Darren Lockyer is, but I think the people that know him would all agree that he is an even better person,” Mal said.

“Darren is a terrific leader of men, and has been for many years. And that doesn’t just mean the things he did on the field.

“I think his greatest leadership has been off the field, just with the way that he carries himself, conducts himself and presents himself.

“He is a truly humble champion who is aware of the responsibilities he carries for the game and for the people of Queensland, and I don’t think we could have asked for better to be honest.”

Mal, about to formally sign-off on a new deal with the QRL that will see him stay at the helm of the Maroons for a further four years, admits the prospect of planning an Origin series without his inspirational skipper for the first time will be tough.

“We obviously are very lucky at the moment that we have a number of quality options in the halves that we can draw upon, so we are not in too bad a shape there,” he said.

“The difficulty is of course is that you can never replace a player like Darren. The challenge for us will be in finding a way to step up another gear and carrying on without the man who personifies the attributes and success that make up this team.

“I have no doubt the question of “can they win without Darren?” is going to get thrown at us a lot over the next six months or so.

“It will be a massive challenge for us, no doubt about it. But I know we have the right people in place to meet that challenge.”