Parramatta co-captain Nathan Cayless says the Eels are preparing for injured Brisbane skipper Darren Lockyer to play in Friday's must-win NRL clash at Suncorp Stadium.

The Broncos have said Test five-eighth Lockyer will miss two weeks with a rib injury suffered in last Friday's win over North Queensland.

"They're saying he's not going to play but he's a pretty tough guy and they're coming seventh so they probably need to keep winning," Cayless told reporters on Wednesday.

"We're preparing as if he's going to play.

"I've seen him play through so many different types of injuries so I won't believe that until I see it on Friday night, that he doesn't run out with the team."

Eels centre Timana Tahu remains in doubt after missing last week's loss to Gold Coast with an ankle injury but has been training with the side this week.

Cayless, who will retire at season's end, will break Sydney Roosters great Brad Fittler's record of 216 games as an NRL club captain in the match.

But he is not allowing himself to think of bowing out bathed in finals glory, with his side losing their last two games.

"We probably need to win all (four of) our games to get in with our for-and-against unless we win a game by a hundred," Cayless said.

"All that matters for us at the moment is 80 minutes on Friday night, whether we can keep our season alive.

"You've just got to keep working hard, you've got to keep having that desire to want to get there.

"If anyone in the team gives up then that will be it because it will show on the field.

"If we're not good enough then we're not good enough."

The 32-year-old New Zealand World Cup-winning skipper said captaincy was not something that had come to him easily.

"I struggled for a while but you learn every day and continue to learn to this day," he said.

"It's helped me to be able to deal with people a lot better.

"When I was younger I was a bit naive and thought everyone should play or everyone should try and train the way that I was but everyone's different.

"You've just got to try and make sure that everyone wants to play as well as they can and everyone's happy and everyone's head is in the right spot.

"There has been some really tough periods but we've always seemed to get ourselves out of those tough periods, we've always been able to turn things around."

Cayless said Parramatta should jettison the co-captaincy model for 2011 and give the job solely to Nathan Hindmarsh.

"He's been a great leader in his own right," Cayless said.

"He's definitely the next man to lead the club."

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