Darren Lockyer has claimed he never confronted his players about their drinking habits as the fall-out from the nightclub toilet sex scandal continues to rock the Brisbane Broncos.
It had been reported this week that the Brisbane captain last month raised concerns with the playing group about a growing drinking culture, urging them to show restraint as the club entered the NRL finals.
------------------ AUDIO: Reluctant Lockyer fronts media ------------------
But Lockyer said today the reports were "incorrect", insisting he never took the issue to the players.
A stoical Lockyer faced a massive media scrum as his side trained at Suncorp Stadium this morning, fending off a barrage of questions about the sexual assault allegations levelled at three of his team-mates.
The events arose from an alleged incident in Fortitude Valley on Saturday night, while other players have also been accused of abusive behaviour later in the night after a 12-hour drinking session which started at a prominent Brisbane hotel and continued into the early hours of the morning.
The whole affair has triggered concerns the club could lose hundred of thousands of dollars in sponsorship deals, but if ticket sales are any guide Brisbane fans are staying loyal to the club.
Only 3000 tickets for Saturday night's final against the Melbourne Storm remain.
Lockyer avoided questions about the scandal, repeating that the squad had shut out the controversy and were focused on their assignment against the Storm.
"Am I disappointed in the players? I'm here to talk about footy guys. Obviously it's a big story but at this stage they're innocent, so I'm not going to buy into talking about the whole issue," Lockyer said.
"I'm here to talk about the game. Those sort of issues, I'm sure they'll be brought up in the off season."
Lockyer said the side had trained as usual this week and the matter had not been raised internally.
"Training has been fine. Obviously there's some distractions out there (but) I don't see there's going to be any dramas on Saturday night," he said.
"The Broncos have had adversity over the years and they've always pulled through OK.
"Saturday night is a tough match as it is. We'll just have to wait and see what happens from there."
But Lockyer did concede harsh lessons would be learned from Saturday night's events.
"After things such as this happen, you have regrets. There's always a lesson to be learned. I'm sure there was," he said.
He refused to comment on whether he thought the three players being questioned by police should have been stood down or whether the players would be going out drinking on Saturday night after the match.
"I haven't thought about that. That's probably more of an administration decision," he said.
The Broncos held a closed training session this morning, although that is a common practice in the lead-up to big games.
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