club announced a list of the 20 best players to play for them to date which included Lockyer. Lockyer injured his ankle again in Round 9 against the Sharks but he recovered in time to play in Game I of the 2007 State of Origin series and defeat the New South Wales Blues. Lockyer would captain the Maroons in all 3 games as they won their second straight Origin title. In the Round 18 match against North Queensland, Lockyer ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament, with the severity of the injury forcing him out for the rest of the 2007 season. Without him, Brisbane crumbled from 5th to 8th and fell 40-0 to eventual Grand Final winners Melbourne in the qualifying final. Lockyer would still, however, be named Dally M Five-Eighth Of The Year a third time, his second consecutive honour, all 3 coming in a 4 year period. Despite Lockyer was at the time contracted to the Broncos until the end of 2009 when he admitted he that he was interested in playing in the Super League after watching the 2007 Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, London. On 27 October 2007, Lockyer married Loren Pollock, his girlfriend of three years, coincidentally on the same day his immediate predecessor as Australian Test captain, Andrew Johns also tied the knot. 2008 Lockyer's knee injury was worse than first thought- his decision to play on after the initial ACL rupture resulted in his knee cartilage being damaged, forcing extra surgeries which saw him racing against the clock to start the 2008 NRL season. Ultimately he would line up in a Round 1 win over the Panthers, however the issue lingered, and he missed 6 of Brisbane's first 11 games. Lockyer, eager to tie down an Origin spot, returned in a round 12 clash against the Eels, where he played an instrumental role in Brisbane's last gasp 30-26 win, however another knee injury would see him miss 5 weeks of action- and the entire Origin series. Lockyer returned to full health after Round 18 and helped Brisbane secure 5th on the ladder, and a 24-16 win over Sydney in the qualifying final gave hope that the Lockyer-inspired run of form would continue through September. That hope was renewed when Brisbane led minor premiers Melbourne 14-12 in the dying stages of the Semi-final, only for a late Greg Inglis try to end Brisbane's season-