Darren Lockyer says he'll enter the 2008 NRL season without any mental scars as he eyes a possible round one return from his knee reconstruction.

The Australian captain was initially expected to miss the first month of Brisbane's season but the prognosis is now much more optimistic.

Lockyer hates being asked if he will make it back for the opening game at Suncorp Stadium on March 16 against Penrith, who have named former Broncos favourite Petero Civoniceva as their captain.

"I get asked the question a lot and it's hard to answer with a yes or no," he says.

"I probably won't know the answer until a week or so before the game.

"Had you asked me that question three weeks ago I would have thought I was at long odds.

"But the last couple of weeks have been very good, so I guess I've probably shortened up a bit now."

"I guess it comes down to whether they think there's a chance of re-injuring the knee but it feels quite stable and quite strong.

"It's a bit stiff and a little under developed and I'll be working on the flexibility and get the bulk back in the muscle.

"Mentally I don't have any worries about re-doing the injury, that's not an issue."

Lockyer has not played since seriously injuring his knee against North Queensland in round 18 in mid-July.

But with Brisbane likely field up to five or six new faces in its side next year following the signings of Joel Clinton, Peter Wallace, Ashton Sims, PJ Marsh and Tom Hewitt, the skipper is keen to get back as quickly as possibly.

He felt he "turned the corner mentally" with a snap decision last week to run some of the gruelling 7km Gap Run with teammates.

Staged around hilly terrain in Brisbane's western suburbs, the run is designed to test players mentally more than physically.

"The first three kilometres are all up hill and players are not allowed to walk," said Broncos performance director Jeremy Hickmans.

"Players have to tough it out and Darren obviously gained a lot of confidence by running some it last week."

Lockyer was told to walk the course which he did for a while until deciding to run.

"Mentally I think I turned the corner although physically I don't think it did the world of good," he said.

"I'd been asking myself the question in my head for so long and I just thought `let's find out where I'm at'."

The champion five-eighth says the training wheels will come off soon when he gets down to practising the little things that have made him a wonderful all-round player for so long.

"The things we do on the field whether it's running, stepping, tackling, whatever, those are the things in the next six or sevens weeks that I will need to get some practice with," said Lockyer after another rehab session at Queensland University.

"I've just started riding the bike again, I don't have the skills there yet.

"I'm probably going to take a while to ride it as good as I did."

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