NRL Immortal: Wayne Bennett backs Norm Provan for 2018 recognition

BRONCOS coach Wayne Bennett has named the player he backs to be the NRL’s next Immortal, and he’s a player the super coach even puts ahead of Maroons legends Mal Meninga and Darren Lockyer. Do you agree? Take our poll

Darren Lockyer would be many Queenslanders’ pick for the next immortal. Picture: Darren England

BRONCOS coach Wayne Bennett says Dragons legend Norm Provan should be named the NRL’s next Immortal ahead of Maroons legends Mal Meninga and Darren Lockyer.

On a landmark day for the code, NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg used The Courier-Mail’s gala NRL season launch yesterday to reveal plans to name the ninth Immortal this year.

It will be the first time an Immortal has been crowned since Andrew Johns in 2012 – and the first coronation since the NRL purchased the intellectual-property rights to the award from Rugby League Week magazine last year.

Darren Lockyer would be many Queenslanders’ pick for the next immortal. Picture: Darren England.

Test icon Meninga is considered a major front-runner, while Lockyer now qualifies for consideration, having been retired from the game as a player for more than five years.

Will Alfie get the nod? Picture: David Kapernick

But Bennett, a former Immortals judge, believes the NRL cannot ignore Provan, the legendary forward who skippered St George to a record 10 premierships between 1956-65.

“I have thought about it often,” Bennett said yesterday at The Courier-Mail’s NRL lunch, attended by 370 guests at Suncorp Stadium.

Rugby league legends Norm Provan and Arthur Summons at the SCG. Picture: Lloyd Justin

“I don’t know anybody in the game who did more than Norm Provan.

“He was part of 10 premierships ... we all fight hard to win one and he won 10.

“Our NRL premiership (the Provan-Summons trophy) is named after him.

“He played for Australia and went on to coach and he is an outstanding man. He was a superstar of his era. He epitomises what the game is about.

“I don’t know what more he has to do.”

Now 85, Provan presided over the most dominant team in rugby league history. Nicknamed ‘Sticks’, he played 256 first-grade games for the Dragons between 1951-65, but has been overlooked as an Immortal twice in the past 15 years in favour of Johns and Arthur Beetson (2003).

Andrew Johns (centre) after being named the eighth Immortal, pictured with fellow Immortals, Graeme Langlands, Bob Fulton, Wally Lewis and Johnny Raper.

Bennett’s decision to choose Provan over Meninga will come as a surprise to some given the latter is a Queensland legend who is the only player to embark on four Kangaroo tours.

Greenberg yesterday confirmed a new name will be added to the code’s most exalted group in the coming months. The current members are Clive Churchill, Bob Fulton, Reg Gasnier, Johnny Raper, Graeme Langlands, Wally Lewis, Beetson and Johns.

Mal Meninga has had a huge impact on the game. Picture: Jim Fenwick

“It will be a very specific and special announcement around the Immortal, you won’t see lots of Immortals, you will be seeing a single Immortal in 2018,” he said.

“We spent a lot of time last year acquiring the intellectual property for the Immortals and that is now owned by the game, as it should be.

“What we have done since then is put a thorough process in place working with historians and rugby league people to put together a very transparent process.

“First of all there will be a Hall of Fame concept, which will lead to the selection of the Immortal.

“We will unveil that over the next month or so and we will give an insight into how the (selection) process will work.”

Originally published as NRL Immortal: Wayne Bennett backs Norm Provan for 2018 recognition