Sports | Monday 4th July, 2011 |
Bennett recalls
Magic of Lockyer in State of Origin
COOLUM, Qld: Rugby league’s most successful duo — Wayne Bennett and Darren Lockyer — only had cross words once.
And it was over State of Origin.
The super coach will be at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night to see his former star pupil play his 36th and final Origin game.
Such is the bond between them, he will also be in the stands later this year when Lockyer, barring injury, plays his 350th premiership game, passing the all-time individual mark of 349 currently shared by Terry Lamb and Steve Menzies.
He'll also watch his last club game which could even be the grand final in October against Bennett's Dragons.
That would be Hollywood stuff.
Bennett revealed Origin had been the centre of their only “blow-up” during a long and successful relationship at the Broncos.
Lockyer had ruptured his ACL playing against the Cowboys late in 2007.
The knee injury plagued him and undermined his confidence in the early months of 2008 and eventually kept him out of the entire Origin series which Queensland won.
“We’d never had a cross word but we had a blow-up over Origin in 2008,” Bennett told AAP.
“Darren wanted to play Origin so badly and before the first two games he’d say he was going to play, then he’d ring me and change his mind because he desperately wanted to play but was struggling for us (Broncos) and we knew we had to pull him out.
“Before the third Origin he came into my office and said ‘I’m going to play in Origin III' and I said ‘mate, you’re not going to make it, you’re not fit, it’s not going to happen’.
“He got really animated and said ‘I’ll prove you wrong’.
“I told him he had nothing to prove to me and that I wanted him to play but I told him he wouldn’t be fit enough for an Origin game.
“He replied ‘I’ll show you what I can do’.
“In the end, he didn’t play Origin III, as hard as he tried and as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t overcome the odds, it was a bridge too far.”
Lockyer played his first Origin under Bennett in 1998 — a nail-biting 24-23 win over the Blues, the first of many games he pulled out of the fire for his favourite coach.
The coach’s memories of Lockyer's Origin debut are fresh and clear.
“NSW were on our try line leading by five. They put a short kick in ... Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler, they had everybody playing," Bennett said, reliving the final magical moments.
“Shane Webcke fell on it, we played it, the ball went wide, Kevvie Walters put a chip kick in, Ben Ikin ran it down.
“He got up, played the ball, a couple of passes wide, Jason Smith and then Tonie Carroll (whose selection was bagged in the match program) turns up and scores and Lockyer kicks the goal and we win.
“Incredible stuff.”
Lockyer played in four Origin series under Bennett for two wins, a draw and one loss — a record the coach insists was 3-1.
“We bloody won three series together,” he says, counting the 2002 drawn series as a win. The final game of the series ended in an 18-all draw with winger Lote Tuqiri missing a conversion after the siren knowing Queensland had already retained the series' shield.
“Darren was a wonderful goal-kicker but he didn’t enjoy the pressure of it,” said Bennett.
“It was the only thing about the game he didn’t enjoy but he did it because the team wanted him to.
And it was over State of Origin.
The super coach will be at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night to see his former star pupil play his 36th and final Origin game.
Such is the bond between them, he will also be in the stands later this year when Lockyer, barring injury, plays his 350th premiership game, passing the all-time individual mark of 349 currently shared by Terry Lamb and Steve Menzies.
He'll also watch his last club game which could even be the grand final in October against Bennett's Dragons.
That would be Hollywood stuff.
Bennett revealed Origin had been the centre of their only “blow-up” during a long and successful relationship at the Broncos.
Lockyer had ruptured his ACL playing against the Cowboys late in 2007.
The knee injury plagued him and undermined his confidence in the early months of 2008 and eventually kept him out of the entire Origin series which Queensland won.
“We’d never had a cross word but we had a blow-up over Origin in 2008,” Bennett told AAP.
“Darren wanted to play Origin so badly and before the first two games he’d say he was going to play, then he’d ring me and change his mind because he desperately wanted to play but was struggling for us (Broncos) and we knew we had to pull him out.
“Before the third Origin he came into my office and said ‘I’m going to play in Origin III' and I said ‘mate, you’re not going to make it, you’re not fit, it’s not going to happen’.
“He got really animated and said ‘I’ll prove you wrong’.
“I told him he had nothing to prove to me and that I wanted him to play but I told him he wouldn’t be fit enough for an Origin game.
“He replied ‘I’ll show you what I can do’.
“In the end, he didn’t play Origin III, as hard as he tried and as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t overcome the odds, it was a bridge too far.”
Lockyer played his first Origin under Bennett in 1998 — a nail-biting 24-23 win over the Blues, the first of many games he pulled out of the fire for his favourite coach.
The coach’s memories of Lockyer's Origin debut are fresh and clear.
“NSW were on our try line leading by five. They put a short kick in ... Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler, they had everybody playing," Bennett said, reliving the final magical moments.
“Shane Webcke fell on it, we played it, the ball went wide, Kevvie Walters put a chip kick in, Ben Ikin ran it down.
“He got up, played the ball, a couple of passes wide, Jason Smith and then Tonie Carroll (whose selection was bagged in the match program) turns up and scores and Lockyer kicks the goal and we win.
“Incredible stuff.”
Lockyer played in four Origin series under Bennett for two wins, a draw and one loss — a record the coach insists was 3-1.
“We bloody won three series together,” he says, counting the 2002 drawn series as a win. The final game of the series ended in an 18-all draw with winger Lote Tuqiri missing a conversion after the siren knowing Queensland had already retained the series' shield.
“Darren was a wonderful goal-kicker but he didn’t enjoy the pressure of it,” said Bennett.
“It was the only thing about the game he didn’t enjoy but he did it because the team wanted him to.
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