http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,22071312-23214,00.html
Brisbane wins - at a price
By Laine Clark
July 13, 2007
BRISBANE has defeated arch rival North Queensland 24-16, but the victory came at a heavy price with Darren Lockyer suffering a freak knee injury.
Lockyer looked to change direction as he ran the ball up four minutes from full-time in Townsville, but he went down holding his right leg, obviously in distress.
The Broncos captain, who appeared to be troubled by an ankle injury nine minutes earlier, was supposed to remember the game for all the right reasons, as he was making his 275th first-grade appearance for Brisbane, an outright record for the club.
Lockyer, 30, will learn as early as tomorrow the extent of his injury.
Broncos doctor Matt Hislop revealed that Lockyer had aggravated the knee earlier in the match but opted to soldier on.
"Darren injured his knee at some time in the second half," Hislop said.
"He tweaked it a couple of times up until when he had to come off.
"We are not sure what he has done but we are worried about it and will get a scan done when we get back to Brisbane tomorrow."
Lockyer was not the only player to wonder about the value of playing on Friday 13, as veteran Cowboys playmaker Jason Smith went down in the 30th minute, with a sprained ankle, and did not return.
The Broncos can ill afford another addition to their injury list that includes Justin Hodges (knee, four weeks), Sam Thaiday (ankle, one week) and Brent Tate (knee, season).
"He is always inspirational, nothing changes with him,'' Broncos coach Wayne Bennett said of Lockyer.
"He was sore throughout the game. In the second half somewhere, he took a knock. He played on and it deteriorated.
"When he started to put his weight on it, it started to give way."
Brisbane turned on the style in the first 40 minutes, routing the Cowboys to take a 24-4 half-time lead with tries from back rower Dane Carlaw, wing Steve Michaels, fullback Karmichael Hunt and back rower Corey Parker.
Cowboys wing Ash Graham scored the only points for the home side in the first stanza.
The Cowboys lifted in the second half in front of a sold-out Dairy Farmers Stadium crowd of 25,126.
Club captain Johnathan Thurston - under an injury cloud before the match, with a hip flexor complaint - burrowed over in the 43rd minute, but video referee Tim Mander ruled that North Queensland centre Scott Minto had obstructed Michaels and he gave the red light.
The interpretation caused different reactions in the respective coach's boxes.
"That's the rule - he went across and made contact with Steve Michaels," Bennett said.
"When we were in the box, I looked and thought 'God, that's obstruction'."
Cowboys coach Graham Murray clearly disagreed.
"There were three blokes having a go at Johnathan Thurston and all three couldn't stop him from getting to the try line," Murray said.
"The winger then decided to go for Scott Minto ... in my opinion it should have been a try.
"I'm still a bit confused about the obstruction. It seems like you just touch someone and it's back to what we had before."
Graham scored his second try when the Cowboys swung the ball right in the 53rd minute, and he further reduced the deficit to 24-10 with the conversion.
Fullback Matt Bowen then cut through six defenders to score a miraculous converted solo try to reduce the deficit to 24-16 with 20 minutes to go, but Brisbane was not to be denied - recording a fifth consecutive victory to continue its march towards a top-four placing on the NRL ladder.
AAP
I said it was flogging a dead horse, not "you are a deadset goose".
