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LONDON: On the eve of a tournament in which he is likely to become the most decorated Australian captain, Darren Lockyer has anointed Cameron Smith as the player who should take over his leadership when he retires from representative football.

Lockyer will tomorrow morning (Sydney time) become the most capped Australian player ever, breaking Mal Meninga's feat of 46 games, against New Zealand at The Stoop, and assuming he plays a week later against England, will equal Clive Churchill's record of 27 matches as skipper.

While still undecided about whether to retire as a representative player after the Four Nations tournament, it is widely expected the five-eighth will turn his full attention to Brisbane next year.

That will leave a significant hole in both the Queensland and Australian teams, however Lockyer believes that in terms of his captaincy of both outfits, Smith would fill them well.

''He's the obvious choice,'' Lockyer said. ''He's still pretty young but he's experienced. I think he's got the right temperament. He'd be my pick.''

Smith was humbled when told of Lockyer's assertion.

''That's a wonderful thing for him to say,'' Smith said. ''I've never spoken to him about when he's going to finish, and he's never said that when he did decide to hang his boots up on his rep career at least that he'd like me to take over, but coming from a guy that was my hero when I w..................Full Article