NEWCASTLE fans will have the chance to see Darren Lockyer’s last game of rugby league in Australia when the Kangaroos play a Test against New Zealand at Ausgrid Stadium in October.
The game has been scheduled for Sunday, October 16, a fortnight after the NRL grand final at ANZ Stadium, and before the Kangaroos and Kiwis head to England for the Four Nations tournament.
The Test is billionaire Nathan Tinkler’s latest sporting coup for Newcastle, coming to fruition after his Tinkler Sports Group management team first kicked off negotiations with the NRL late last year.
‘‘We’re in the process of finalising arrangements with the NRL to host a rugby league Test match between Australia and New Zealand in Newcastle, and hopefully that will be confirmed soon,’’ TSG executive chairman Ken Edwards said yesterday.
The news comes after TSG outbid the Victorian and Queensland state governments in February to land a three-year deal with Netball Australia to host one-off internationals at Newcastle Entertainment Centre.
The NRL is yet to formally announce details but the Test in October will be the second match of what will become an annual two-match series between the trans-Tasman rivals, and will not be part of the Four Nations.
NRL media and communications director John Brady confirmed yesterday that the Test would be played at Ausgrid Stadium ‘‘and there will be further announcements about that shortly’’.
Lockyer, who is within 10 games of passing Terry Lamb’s record of 349 games and becoming the most-capped player in premiership history, will retire at the end of this season.
The Brisbane Broncos, Queensland and Kangaroos skipper’s last Test on Australian soil looked like being in the international against New Zealand at Skilled Park on May 6.
That match against the reigning world and Four Nations champions next week was originally scheduled for AAMI Stadium in Christchurch, but it was transferred to the Gold Coast after the devastating earthquakes that shook the New Zealand city in February.
Australia and New Zealand officials have agreed to play an annual two-Test series in non-World Cup years, with each nation hosting one match.
It was decided that Australia would host both games this year due to the crisis in Christchurch and the rugby union World Cup in New Zealand in September and October.
The most recent rugby league Test at Ausgrid Stadium was between New Zealand England on November 8, 2008, in the Centenary World Cup.
In front of a crowd of 15,145, the Kiwis won 36-24 en route to their 34-20 victory over Australia in the final at Suncorp Stadium two weeks later.
Australia’s last Test in Newcastle was on April 23, 2004, before a crowd of 21,537, when Lockyer led the Kangaroos to a 37-10 victory over New Zealand in the Anzac Test.
The Knights had three representatives – Danny Buderus, Matt Gidley and Timana Tahu – and 18-year-old Sonny Bill Williams made his Test debut off the bench for the Kiwis.
Lockyer missed Brisbane’s 44-18 loss to the Knights in Newcastle last year due to a rib injury but he and the Broncos are scheduled to play the Knights at Ausgrid Stadium in round 24 this year, on the weekend of August 19-22.
His most recent appearance at the ground was on May 2, 2009, in his 300th NRL game. That milestone was made memorable by torrential rain and an electrical storm that blacked out the stadium and extended the half-time break by 40 minutes. The Knights rained on his parade with a 28-12 win.
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