DARREN LOCKYER has been ruled out for six weeks and may miss the entire Origin series after surgery yesterday on his injured knee, but Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett believes the Queensland selectors would be "silly" to thrust team-mate Karmichael Hunt into the five-eighth role.

In a wide-ranging press conference after Brisbane's 30-12 loss to Manly, Bennett said Lockyer would need four-to-six weeks to recover from what doctors described as a successful operation on his right knee - and then launched a passionate argument for Scott Prince to partner Johnathan Thurston at the Maroons scrumbase.

As Queensland coach Mal Meninga prepares for another blow with Broncos prop Ben Hannant in doubt for Origin I after last night being rushed to see a plastic surgeon for an ugly cut to his chin, Bennett hit out at speculation that Maroons selectors were set to pick Hunt at five-eighth so they could put Billy Slater at fullback, saying: "That's what NSW do, we don't do that."

Having coached Prince at the Broncos from 2001 to 2003 and with Australia during the 2005 Tri-Nations tournament, Bennett nominated the Titans captain as Lockyer's replacement without any prompting after being asked a question about the possibility of Hunt being named at five-eighth when the Origin teams are announced tomorrow.

"I don't think Queensland would be that silly, personally," Bennett said. "Well, what are you going to do with Scott Prince? He can't play?"

Regarded as the form player of the NRL this season, Prince has had to incur the disappointment of losing out to Thurston for the Australian No.7 jersey in last Friday night's Centenary Test and was then controversially twice overlooked when Melbourne second-rower Michael Crocker was called in to replace Lockyer and Storm halfback Cooper Cronk joined the team on standby after Thurston rolled his ankle at training.

A further snubbing of Prince would cause outrage in Queensland and Bennett said any concerns the Maroons selectors might have about choosing two dominant players as their halves combination would be unfounded.

"What do you think Darren Lockyer is?" Bennett asked. "Scott Prince is one of the best team players I have ever coached. We couldn't be that silly. He was a five-eighth and he used to play five-eighth - that was his preferred position, and he's just a great team player. I had him here for three years so I've seen enough of him and he could have made the Australian team.

"Any role he had to do for the team … you see how he plays for the Titans every week. He's their best team player, him and Nathan Friend.

"They're just team-orientated guys. You see them do everything for the team, so I don't think they'll have any problems with Thurston being dominant. If Thurston's calling the shots, I'm sure he [Prince] will be happy to sit back in the pocket and if Johnathan can't call it, he will put his hand up and say, 'I'll get this call'."

Bennett suggested Lockyer might be fit for Origin III but it would appear there is little chance of him playing any earlier in the series.

After undergoing surgery yesterday morning, Lockyer is going to have to get used to watching the Broncos play from the coach's box, where he witnessed yesterday's five-tries-to-two defeat with Bennett.

But Bennett said he was relieved doctors had found the reason for the pain he had endured behind his right knee cap since coming back this season from a reconstruction in 2007. "They [the doctors] are very happy with everything. They see it as four-to-six weeks and he will be back playing football," Bennett said. "I'm just happy for him. He's been through a terrible time trying to second guess himself and not knowing what's going on.

"The reconstruction itself - the cartilage that was stitched - is in great shape and there's no dramas there at all. Behind the knee cap there is a little indentation, in layman's terms, and every time the knee cap moved it aggravated it and gave him pain so they just tidied that up a little bit for him and it has to seal over, so that's what the four-to-six week process is."

Broncos and Australian centre Justin Hodges missed yesterday's match after aggravating an arm injury but Bennett said he should be fit for Origin I on May 21.