Fake articles about NRL great Lockyer, stars Cleary and Yeo shared online

Tom Wark January 06, 2025
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Broncos legend Darren Lockyer is one of many NRL players featured in bogus claims online. Image by Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS

WHAT WAS CLAIMED

Darren Lockyer has been unveiled as the new coach of the Brisbane Broncos.

OUR VERDICT

False. The coach of the Broncos is Michael Maguire.

AAP FACTCHECK - Fake stories about former and current NRL players are being pumped out on dubious sites and spread in rugby fan groups on Facebook.

One post, which has garnered over 3700 likes, claims Brisbane great Darren Lockyer has been revealed as the new Broncos coach.

The post links to an article from a website called USSportUpdate.com with the headline: "Breaking News: fans rejoice as Darren Lockyer has become the Brisbane broncos head coach to take over 2025…"

One of the Facebook posts spreading a false claim.
One post sharing the fake claim about Mr Lockyer has over 3.7K likes. (Facebook/AAP)

The article claims that "the announcement" follows weeks of speculation and marks "the beginning of a new era for the Broncos".

However, there has been no such announcement by the NRL club, which appointed Michael Maguire as coach in September 2024.

Articles featuring the false claim about Lockyer have also been published by sportzpresz.com, which has also published a false claim about Canterbury-Bankstown NRL star Stephen Crichton.

Another post spuriously claimed Penrith star Nathan Cleary had been announced as the Panthers' head coach, replacing his father Ivan Cleary.