Blues coach Ricky Stuart has denied snubbing Darren Lockyer's farewell presentation after Wednesday night's Origin Series decider.

Stuart was criticised for not attending, but he explained he was unaware of the presentation and had been sitting in the rooms waiting for the players to come in.

He said he was caught up in the emotion of the night, and had even feared whether he could keep his composure to make the speech at the after match function.