Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett said Darren Lockyer should and would be named Australian five-eighth and captain after playing the full 80 minutes in the Broncos' 32-18 Anzac Day win over South Sydney.

"There's no need for him (Lockyer) to sweat it out, he'll be the Test five-eighth and he'll be the Australian captain, subject to the next 48 hours," said Bennett.

Lockyer was happy with how his right knee came through the game at Suncorp Stadium after playing more time than expected following a season-ending knee injury to young centre Steve Michaels.

"There were no symptoms after 80 minutes," said Lockyer, adding while his knee was pain free, the next 24 to 48 hours would tell the tale.

Asked if he was ready for Test football, he said: "I suppose".

Brisbane led 14-6 at halftime and 26-6 early in the second half before Souths hit back to cut the deficit to 26-18 at one stage with winger Nathan Meritt grabbing two tries.

Souths coach Jason Taylor and co-captains Roy Asotasi and David Kidwell were brutally honest after the club's seventh successive loss.

"We thought we were a chance at halftime with the Broncos a bit busted," said Taylor.

"But we killed ourselves in the second half with stupid errors for the second week in a row.

"We have to face the brutal fact that we aren't good enough to win (at the moment) but we're not too far away if we can get our defence right."

Asotasi, who admitted he felt frustrated, said he told the players they were playing like school kids.

"No, school kids are better than us," he said.

Kidwell was so disappointed he said he'd run out of ideas.

"We're putting in the effort but we're not learning," he said.

Brisbane centre Justin Hodges, who almost didn't play because of an energy-sapping virus, showed great courage to play out the second half after suffering a painful shoulder injury just before halftime.

"Hodgo had a big night," said Bennett, adding Hodges (corked right shoulder) would join Lockyer in the Australian side to play New Zealand in the Centenary Test in Sydney on May 9.

"He wasn't even going to play but we got him some antibiotics and gave him a needle and he was vomiting at different stages," said Bennett.

"Some of these guys are very, very gutsy with what they do.

"We get the 'flu and we go to bed. We ask these guys to go and play football.

Bennett described Tonie Carroll's 200th first grade game as "vintage Carroll".

"He had it all, didn't he," said Bennett who revealed Carroll had been subjected to a pre-game fitness Test on his hamstring.

"He had the great runs, the great defence, getting up from the injuries and playing on.

"We brought someone else in, we didn't think he was playing.

"He might have forgot it was his 200th game but he passed the fitness test this morning and absolutely amazed the physio."

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