making 34th appearance for Queensland, equalling the all-time record of Allan Langer. Lockyer set up and made the final pass for Billy Slater's match winning try. Darren was selected for the following two games, Game 2, a loss, however led the Maroons to a nail-biting decider win of 34-24; ending his prolific Origin career on a high, with 6-straight series wins and a memorable speech. In Round 22, on 7 August, Lockyer played his all-time record-equalling 349th club game against the New Zealand Warriors at home, Suncorp Stadium. Brisbane won the game 21-20 thanks to a field goal slotted in by halfback Wallace. The following Friday, on 12 August, Lockyer officially broke the record for most NRL games played at 350 with a win over the North Queensland Cowboys in front of a capacity crowd Dairy Farmers Stadium. The NRL's CEO David Gallop presented Lockyer with the match ball afterwards. In the second week of the finals series, Lockyer and the Broncos came up against his former mentor Bennett in a match billed as a farewell for one of the two champions. Lockyer was responsible for putting Ben Teo in for the first try, but with Brisbane up 12-6 and under 10 minutes remaining, Lockyer came too close to a jumping Gerard Beale and collected the knee of the Broncos winger to the face, fracturing his cheekbone. Lockyer played through the pain, but missed a tackle which helped set up a game tying Dragons try through Brett Morris. With the game sent to Golden Point, Lockyer, in what would eventually be the last act of his career, sealed the match for the Broncos with a 30m field goal in the 82nd minute. Lockyer underwent surgery to repair the cheekbone and tried everything to ensure he played the Preliminary Final- even flying from Brisbane to Sydney by helicopter so he could stay at a low altitude. But ultimately, he was forced to pull out from the squad, and watched from the sidelines as Brisbane fell 26-14 to Manly- a team Lockyer had helped Brisbane beat just a month earlier- resulting in the end of his legendary career. He was named the 2011 Brisbane Broncos season's player of the year. On 16 October 2011, he captained Australia to a 42-6 win against New Zealand in his last Test game in Australia at Newcastle's Hunter Stadium. Lockyer ended his career captaining the Australian