A remorseful Darren Lockyer apologised for telling a "bad taste" Bulldogs joke which he hoped would not damage his retention of the Australian Test captaincy.

Lockyer left more than 500 guests at a Brisbane charity football luncheon stunned after repeating a crass joke relating to the Bulldogs recent alleged sex scandal and former St George great Johnny Raper.

"You know, St George, they won 11 premierships with one Raper, imagine how many Canterbury are going to win," he said.

The gaffe was met with gasps - and laughter - from the audience and the incumbent Test captain soon realised his error of judgment, adding "that was in bad taste".

"If I've offended anyone by my comments I apologise," an embarrassed Lockyer told reporters after the lunch.

"At no stage did I intend to demean anyone or trivialise the seriousness of events of the past few weeks.

"I hope that the people who know me realise that this is something out of character, without malice and is an unfortunate incident.

"Now I realise it was in bad taste and if I could have my time over again I wouldn't have said that."

Lockyer could be fined for bringing the game into disrepute over the slip-up but comments from NRL boss David Gallop suggest he could escape punishment.

"It was obviously a massive error of judgment and quite out of character for Darren," Gallop said.

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