Corey Parker announced as Broncos captain

Newly appointed Brisbane Broncos skipper Corey Parker says captaining the club is the greatest honour of his career.

The Broncos announced the decision to make Parker captain on Friday at their Red Hill headquarters, just six days out from their Round 1 clash against Parramatta.

In his 17th season at the club, Parker will now officially take over from the retired Justin Hodges as he looks to guide the side to their first premiership since 2006.

A co-captain with Hodges in 2014, Parker says taking sole responsibility of the job is one of the greatest feelings he has ever had as a player.

"It is the greatest honour of my career. It is top of the tree," Parker said.

"When I was a young kid all I wanted to do was play for this club.

"To be able to have done that for 17 years and then get the opportunity to lead the club solely is certainly a cherry on top."

Parker says a couple of Queensland greats have influenced the style of captaincy he will bring to the Broncos.

"I think some of the greatest attributes of captains and leaders of life is not what you say – saying less is more at times," he said.

"Darren Lockyer was certainly a good example of that and certainly Cameron Smith does that pretty well.

"We've got a great group of guys this year. The side isn't very different to last year so I won't need to change much at all.

"We've got a wonderful playing group and a senior playing group that will help me throughout the year. There are some exciting times ahead."

The Australian Kangaroos and Queensland Maroons representative seemed to be an obvious choice and coach Wayne Bennett hinted that Parker was always going to be the club's next captain.

When asked if the decision was hard to make, Bennett responded in typical fashion with a swift "no".