The NRL must outline a clear set of rules to straighten up Immortal debate

PAUL Kent’s column on the NRL Immortals selection process has fans debating who will be the next player to join that exclusive club. Have your say and vote here!

Who will be the next NRL Immortal?

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BOB McCarthy was off to the side being interviewed at Ron Coote’s farewell to the Men of League and the question got around to whether Coote should be made an Immortal.

This was a fortnight ago at a superb gala dinner that brings together the best of rugby league.

“I think he should be there,” said McCarthy, causing warm applause to flutter around the room.

A showman of some standing, if under-recognised, McCarthy did what all good speakers do and threw a few more names up whom he considered should be made Immortal, before finally stating” “Hell, throw them all in ... Throw me in!”

And the kind of cheer they would save for Churchill went up around the room.

The Immortals are back on the agenda.

Cameron Smith played game 351 last week to go with his 50 Tests and 42 Origins and it all dovetails nicely into calls he should be made an Immortal.

Smith is the most dominant footballer to ever play the game. Throw them all in and he is No.1.

Right now there are thousands reading this and arguing that Fulton or Langlands or Gasnier in full flight were more dangerous than Smith poking out of dummy-half and they have some right to do so.

But half the game is tackling, even in the backs.

Cameron Smith seems destined to become an Immortal.

Where the other Immortals were clearly the best attacking weapons of their generation, Smith is far and away the greatest influence defensively.

Teams defend in three sections now. The left and right edges, and then the middle.

Every team “spots” the hooker when they attack through the middle. Hookers are generally smaller so they attempt to use their size advantage for an offload or a quick play-the-ball, either of which will set up their whole set.

Not through Smith.

Smith is the most effective tackler in the game. No team spots him defensively. Moreover, he controls the speed of the tackle and the speed of the entire Storm defensive line and he does this better than any player.

He is easily in the top five in every relevant attacking stat. He is easily first in every relevant defensive stat.

Could Mal Meninga become an Immortal?

It is inevitable he will become an Immortal. The question is: who goes in before him? And this is where it gets ugly.

The NRL paid $200,000 to Bauer Media in March for the rights to the Immortals concept. So the game now owns its greatest award.

The Immortals began humbly, as a port promotion for Rugby League Week in 1981. The judges — RLW editor Ian Heads, Frank Hyde, Harry Bath and Tom Goodman — came up with their four.

Do not ever say these men did not take the responsibility seriously. They argued for eight hours through the night — pizza was delivered — over who should be the fourth and final Immortal.

It was supposed to end there but for many years there was a feeling Graeme Langlands should also have been included. Langlands’ omission was responsible for the eight-hour standoff.

When his exclusion became too much and RLW sales were struggling, the magazine announced a promotion to induct two more in 1999. Langlands was properly inducted and rugby league’s new world was recognised with Wally Lewis’s inclusion.

Ron Coote is in the mix.

Small dysfunction set in after that. Just four years later, Arthur Beetson was inducted. And nine years after that, in 2012, Andrew Johns.

There was no rhyme nor reason to it and the NRL was greatly frustrated. The growing Immortals concept was a slave to magazine sales and, worse, taking the shine from the NRL’s own Hall of Fame.

Now, finally, the game is doing something.

An awards recognition committee featuring Ian Heads, Mal Meninga, Laurie Daley, Wally Lewis, Roy Masters, Debbie Spillane, David Middleton and Brian Canavan will meet on Wednesday to set up a proper criteria.

The early thoughts are for it to happen the week of the stand-alone second State of Origin game next year.

Origin will be played on Sunday evening and the night before will be a double-header, a Pacific Test and a clash between England and New Zealand.

Darren Lockyer must also warrant consideration. Picture: Gregg Porteous

The NSW and Queensland women’s teams will play on the Friday night.

And the night before that will be a gala dinner to kick it all off, where the next Immortal will be announced as well as, finally, Hall of Fame inductions.

There needs to be a Rugby League Hall of Fame in which those who are not quite at Immortal status are recognised for their contributions.

An awards recognition committee must fix this.

So far, no criteria has been established. There is no idea whether they will go all the way back to Norm Provan, once more.

Listen! Paul Crawley, Dean Ritchie, Fatima Kdouh & Phil Rothfield ask will the Dragons choke, can anyone beat the Storm & is the NRL headed for a salary cap crisis?

The list then includes Coote, perhaps McCarthy, and Meninga and Darren Lockyer and into the current generation of stars such as Johnathan Thurston and Billy Slater.

Who and how often?

The contenders come from everywhere. The opinions and reasons why are as solid as expected, but against this there is the simple truth of the Immortals, which is difficult for many to accept.

But it is a delicate formula the game must hold sacred.

The exclusivity of the Immortals is judged not by the credentials of those who are made Immortal, but by the credentials of those who are not.

Originally published as The NRL must outline a clear set of rules to straighten up Immortal debate