Rugby league's most successful duo - Wayne Bennett and Darren Lockyer - only had cross words once.

And it was over State of Origin.

The super coach will be at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night to see his former star pupil play his 36th and final Origin game.

Such is the bond between them, he will also be in the stands later this year when Lockyer, barring injury, plays his 350th premiership game, passing the all-time individual mark of 349 currently shared by Terry Lamb and Steve Menzies.

He'll also watch his last club game which could even be the grand final in October against Bennett's Dragons.

That would be Hollywood stuff.

Bennett revealed Origin had been the centre of their only "blow-up" during a long and successful relationship at the Broncos.

Lockyer had ruptured his ACL playing against the Cowboys late in 2007.

The knee injury plagued him and undermined his confidence in the early months of 2008 and eventually kept him out of the entire Origin series which Queensland won.

"We'd never had a cross word but we had a blow-up over Origin in 2008," Bennett told AAP.

"Darren wanted to play Origin so badly and before the first two games he'd say he was going to play, then he'd ring me and change his mind because he desperately wanted to play but was struggling for us (Broncos) and we knew we had to pull him out.

"Before the third Origin he came into my office and said 'I'm going to play in Origin III' and I said 'mate, you're not going to make it, you're not fit, it's not going to happen'.

"He got the shits with me big time.

"He got really animated and said 'I'll prove you wrong'.

"I told him he had nothing to prove to me and that I wanted him to play but I told him he wouldn't be fit enough for an Origin game.

"He replied 'I'll show you what I can do'.

"In the end, he didn't play Origin III, as hard as he tried and as much as he wanted to, he couldn't overcome the odds, it was a bridge too far."

Lockyer played his first Origin under Bennett in 1998 - a nail-biting 24-23 win over the Blues, the first of many games he pulled out of the fire for his favourite coach.

The coach's memories of Lockyer's Origin debut are fresh and clear.

"NSW were on our try line leading by five. They put a short kick in ... Andrew Johns, Brad Fittler, they had everybody playing," Bennett said, reliving the final magical moments.

"Shane Webcke fell on it, we played it, the ball went wide, Kevvie Walters put a chip kick in, Ben Ikin ran it down.

"He got up, played the ball, a couple of passes wide, Jason Smith and then Tonie Carroll (whose selection was bagged in the match program) turns up and scores and Lockyer kicks the goal and we win.

"Incredible stuff."

Lockyer played in four Origin series under Bennett for two wins, a draw and one loss - a record the coach insists was 3-1.

"We bloody won three series together," he says, counting the 2002 drawn series as a win.

The final game of the series ended in an 18-all draw with winger Lote Tuqiri missing a conversion after the siren knowing Queensland had already retained the series' shield.

"Darren was a wonderful goal-kicker but he didn't enjoy the pressure of it," said Bennett.

"It was the only thing about the game he didn't enjoy but he did it because the team wanted him to.

"We made a decision for that game that we'd give it to Lote (Tuqiri), god knows why we picked Lote, and we scored right on fulltime but he missed the goal.

"I said to Lockyer I was elated but I was filthy deep down we got a draw because I knew it should have been a win.

"I said to Locky 'why didn't you take the kick, it would have won the game for us?'

"He said, 'no problems coach we still won the shield'.

"That was Locky, he played his heart out, got a draw and we won the series.

"If we needed to kick the goal to win the game, I reckon he steps up and takes it and makes it."

Bennett rates Lockyer alongside another great Bronco Allan Langer as the two best players he has coached for making clutch decisions.

While he has shaped the careers of many stars, he said he and Lockyer had helped each other's careers.

"Darren helped me by producing the high quality he did every week, taking on the responsibility and by inspiring the players around him to do their best," said Bennett.

"I didn't make him as a player but I'd like to think I helped him."

As was also the case when Wally Lewis and Langer retired, Bennett knows another champion will come along.

But he doubts anyone will match the records Lockyer has amassed in 16 seasons.

"He's got them all hasn't he?" said Bennett, himself a seven-time NRL premiership coach.

However not all of Bennett's memories of Lockyer are happy ones, especially their last game together at Suncorp Stadium in 2008 when Melbourne beat them on the siren.

"Darren was broken-hearted that night and I felt for him seeing him behind the try line in absolute despair," he said.

"As disappointed as I was, I was more disappointed for him than I was for myself because that bloke gave so much.

"I knew what was going through his mind, he was thinking 'just give me another three minutes, just three minutes and I'll win the game'.

"And he would have - that's what champions do."

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