EXCLUSIVE: Darren Lockyer's 'shining light' from Broncos loss as 'big call' faces Kevin Walters

Broncos legend turned board member Darren Lockyer admits the club is "in a bit of a hole at the moment".

Brisbane sits 13th on the ladder and faces the prospect of missing finals despite playing in a grand final last year.

Brisbane's 30-26 loss to the Dragons last Saturday has put the club under significant pressure as coach Kevin Walters faces a tough decision whether or not to play his Origin stars against Newcastle this weekend.

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The club have seven games remaining this season and will play the Knights, Bulldogs, Titans, Cowboys, Eels, Dolphins and Storm.

Lockyer admits this week's clash in Newcastle will be a "tough assignment" with fellow legend Wally Lewis suggesting the selection decision for Walters is make or break.

"Big decision that one for Kevvy to rest the players or realise we pretty much need to win from here on in," Lewis said on Wide World of Sports' QLDER.

"When you're gambling with the long term future of players you've got to make a big call."

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Reece Walsh, Selwyn Cobbo, Pat Carrigan, and Payne Haas have all been named in the reserves for the Broncos while the injured Adam Reynolds could also potentially return.

One player that may keep his spot in the side is young prodigy Blake Mozer, who scored his first career try against the Dragons.

Mozer has been compared to legendary hooker Cameron Smith since he started coming up through the grades, with Lockyer highly complimentary of the 20-year-old.

"One of the shining lights I thought was Blake Mozer," he said.

"I thought the game changed a bit so that was good for him. It was only his third game, there's been a lot of wraps on the kid but I thought just scoring that try might be enough to give him some confidence."

While the Mozer emergence was a positive for the Broncos, it's one of not many for the club in a disappointing season.

The potential to play finals is still there but if it doesn't occur Walters will be tasked with examining what went wrong during the campaign.

Lockyer said the coach simply "hasn't had a lot of luck this year".

"Because we made the grand final, probably should've been premiers last year, we were 15 minutes away from that happening, the expectation was to be there again," he said.

"You do need some luck along the way to go to a grand final and don't forget we lost Tom Flegler and Herbie Farnworth, two very good players.

"I think if we don't play finals you'd say that's a failure but there's no issue there from the coaching perspective, I think he just hasn't had a lot of luck this year."