Lockyer hoping for big finish

The Kangaroos will be haunted by the fear of failure and motivated by the desire to send their popular captain Darren Lockyer into retirement on a fitting note in Saturday's Gillette Four Nations final.

All Australian eyes at Elland Road will be on the 34-year-old Lockyer as he prepares to play the final game of his stellar career and the Brisbane stand-off admits he has considered the prospect of defeat.

"Every game you fear failure," he said. "We're just preparing as well as we can to give it our best performance and the outcome looks after itself. You've got to be prepared for defeat, it's a chance of happening."

Australia lost last year's final to New Zealand in Brisbane and were also beaten by the Kiwis at Elland Road in 2005 but vice captain Cameron Smith prefers to remember their 46-16 win over England in 2009.

"We fell short last year and the last time we won was at this ground so we've got some good memories here," Smith said during the Kangaroos' familiarisation exercise at Elland Road on Friday morning.

"We've probably got a little bit more to play for than that trophy. It's our captain's last game and we've got a lot riding on this game.

"We can't approach this match thinking about that and wanting to win it for him. It's about every one of Australia's players going out to do their best for their team and for their country.

"If we do that we give ourselves an opportunity of doing well."