Darren Lockyer to hang up the boots

It's the message we'd been expecting in the next year or so, certainly not as early as round 3 of this NRL season. A future Immortal, Darren Lockyer, announced that he will be hanging up the boots at the end of the 2011 season. Tributes have been flooding in for the man who has carried the Broncos on his shoulders for a number of years, through the good and the bad.

I remember watching him when I was quite young and seeing an electric fullback and being unaware at the time that I would be witnessing one of the greatest players to take the field in the history of Rugby League ply his trade. Someone mentioned to me that this is his 17th season in the top grade and that's quite a feat. As of today, he's played an astounding 335 first-grade games, 34 Origin games and 56 Tests for the Kangaroo's. This puts him among the all-time greats across all tiers of the game. While some players excel at club level and fail at Origin (or vice versa), Darren has led the charge on all fronts of the game and for me, that makes him an Immortal for sure. Being a die-hard Queenslander, I'll have fond memories for many, many years of him toiling hard and dominating opponents in the Maroon jersey.

I'll be the first to admit that when it was announced that Lockyer would shift from fullback to pivot, I was a non-believer. I was convinced that he was such a good fullback and if he transitioned to a new position, he wouldn't be as good or wouldn't be able to adapt. Boy was I wrong. The move was successful, obviously, and he will go down as one of the great halves. For me, the combination of a phenomenal passing game and accurate kicking game (long and short) culminated in us, the fans, having witnessed one of the true greats of our game.

We here at Red Hill Rants salute you Darren, let's hope that the Broncos can finish his career with a bang. and win the premiership.