Why Lockyer decided to go

Broncos captain Darren Lockyer's champion qualities both on and off the field have made him an endearing role model to many

Darren Lockyer family

THE bell didn't ring for Darren Lockyer like it did for his great mate Allan Langer, who smelt hot pies outside the dressing room and thought: "I'd rather be out there eating."

Unlike former Test cricket captain Ian Chappell, he was not moved by looking up at the clock during a game and thinking: "What? Has this game really only been going for just 10 minutes ... it seems two hours."

Lockyer never saw a checkered flag or felt a man with a flowing grey beard tap him on the shoulder.

He retired the way he played ... with shrewd, deliberate calculation.

As always, emotion was not allowed through the front door.

The decision did not come to him. He had to go looking. And when he found it he kept it quietly to himself for a while before announcing it at the Broncos Leagues Club yesterday as nonchalantly as a poker player reveals a pair of jacks.

A realist to the end, Lockyer was ruled by the numbers, especially the one on his birth certificate which says he is 34.

Fellow champions Wally Lewis, Laurie Daley, Brad Fittler had all left by that age.

Even Allan Langer, who never seemed to grow old, played his last NRL game at 33. He later returned for State of Origin.

Lockyer knew he had to move because he didn't want to regret staying.

"Your birth certificate starts to play mind games with you," Lockyer told The Courier-Mail.

"I would rather retire now than in 12 months when it has all caught up with me. I think that forced me to look at where my contract was at.

"I am still enjoying playing but I had to ask myself am I motivated to go on to the next year?

"Around mid-January this was what I was going to do but I wanted to just get a bit of football under my belt and make sure that I was comfortable with the decision and I am."

Many players, Langer included, choke up at their retirement announcement but Lockyer's gravelly voice was as matter of fact as ever.

The Broncos had reportedly offered to keep Lockyer on the same money next year had he wanted to play on. But the money was secondary to the need to adhere to the unwritten rule governing the retirements of the greats - leave while it's still your decision.

Lockyer noticed the change in his life during the off-season.

He confessed recently that part of his fitness regime was pushing a pram with his son Sunny up and down the hills of Paddington but not even the change of routine saw a slackening in his standards of professionalism.

When Lockyer turned up to Broncos training in the first week of January, he finished at the front of his group in a long distance time trial.

It made teammates think he was as keen and focused as ever but behind the scenes he could hear the clock ticking.

No matter what happens for the remainder of his career he will leave as one of the game's most iconic figures and perhaps a future Immortal, an honour bestowed on just seven players in the game's history.

No rugby league player has led his country more times (33) or scored more Test tries (34) and in the next six months he could break Langer's record of 34 Origins, claim Kiwi Ruben Wiki's world record of 55 Tests and beat the NRL record of 349 games currently shared by Steve Menzies and Terry Lamb.

His career statistics are stunning but he was earmarked a player of great potential long before he ran out wearing number 35 on his back in his debut for the Broncos when they thrashed Parramatta 60-14 in round 13, 1995.

Roma-raised Lockyer was an exceptional junior who idolised Wally Lewis. When he was a teenager his father Dave even ushered him in front of Lewis and said: "Can you teach Darren how to play ... he will be in your shoes one day."

The first mention of Lockyer in The Courier-Mail came on June 9, 1994, when he was picked in a Queensland open schoolboys representative team.

Since then, 6260 stories in our newspaper have carried his name. Stand by for a few hundred more.

Cricket great Steve Waugh announced his decision to retire then did a lap of Australia which caused such a focus in a Test series against India, teammates were relieved when it ended. Lockyer does not want to be the focus but to an extent it's out of his hands.

"I've spoken to the boys already and that's not how I want it to be," Lockyer said.

"In '06 it was the perfect outcome for Webbie (Shane Webcke) and I'd love another outcome like that.

"But as players we do it for ourselves, each other, our fans and our club."

When asked his greatest moment he spoke vaguely of premiership photos in the Broncos Leagues Club but he didn't get too specific.

The suspicion may be that the ultimate moment is yet to come.

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