Lockyer`s return to electrify series

All the talk surrounding the Thurston-Prince situation had disguised the biggest threat to Craig Bellamy`s campaign, which was silently lurking in the shadows - Lockyer.

Lockyer`s performance on Friday night has signalled his intent. For a Queensland side grappling with selection dilemmas and licking their wounds after an understated display in Origin I, this is heaven sent.

It`s not only what Lockyer brings to the team as an individual that will greatly enhance Queensland`s stocks but, as with any legend of sport, it`s what it will do to his teammates.

The feeling surrounding Origin II is almost history repeating itself.

But first time around it was Blues legend Andrew Johns` sudden return that sent the series into a frenzy in 2005.

The similarities are frighteningly similar. Both men were at the peak of their powers when they faced the immense challenge of undergoing and having to return from a knee reconstruction. They returned to football with a stutter in their step and heavy psychological scarring.

Johns then suffered a broken jaw which forced him out of the game and allowed him to have much-needed rehabilitation on the knee.

Lockyer saw the writing on the wall himself and stepped away to get his knee and game in order.

In Game I 2005, without Johns, New South Wales seemingly had the game in their grasp before Matt Bowen snatched victory for Queensland with a late intercept.

In Game I 2008, without Lockyer, Queensland couldn`t get going in attack and were strangled out of the contest by a disciplined and determined NSW.

A week later in 2005 Johns returned against the Broncos and showed touches of the Johns of old.

The width of his passes and his trademark vision tormented the Brisbane Broncos side. NSW initially resisted the temptation to rush Johns back and it was only after Trent Barrett suffered an injury in camp that Johns was finally recalled. The series turned on its ear, NSW winning 2-1, and Johns` performances went down as his greatest triumph in a career full of conquests.

Queensland won`t make the same mistake as NSW. Lockyer will be selected immediately and looked upon to inspire the Maroons as Johns did three years earlier.

Lockyer is a man with nothing to prove in the sport, but this series offers him the same opportunity as it offered Johns in 2005, the chance to enter the same rarified atmosphere as the likes of Wally Lewis in Origin legend.

This match is going to be huge. They could sell out Suncorp Stadium five times over.