Why rugby league pioneer Dally Messenger must become an Immortal

IF the judges for the two new Immortals overlook Dally Messenger, rugby league’s pioneer and one of the most important in the sport’s history, something has gone seriously wrong.

Undated- Dally Messenger, rugby player.p/

DALLY Messenger was renowned for his unpredictable running style but on Tuesday it should be the turn of others to do some fancy footwork in his honour.

Don’t shoot the Messenger, we cry, as a group of judges assemble in Sydney to pick the game’s next two Immortals who will be announced on Wednesday night.

Messenger is Australian rugby league’s Adam/

Making the great Messenger rugby league’s next Immortal should be an obvious move but nothing is as obvious as it seems in rugby league, particularly when choosing Immortals.

Squeezing Messenger in may require the most delicate of balancing acts but for the credibility of the Immortals concept it should happen even though his presence would mean only one can be chosen from the likes of Mal Meninga, Norm Provan and Darren Lockyer. Ouch!

But the Messenger issue is not like the old Joey was better than Alfie who was better than Ricky debate which goes round and round.

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It’s more a matter of paying homage to the bleeding obvious.

When the Immortals concept started in 1981 the judges were banned from choosing players who played before World War II.

Now they are permitted to go back to the origins of the game and that lands them smack bang at Messenger’s front door.

Messenger is one of the most significant figures in rugby league history.

Leaving him out would be like leaving out WG Grace from a list of influential cricketers or Phar Lap from a list of Australian racing greats.

If Messenger misses out — don’t write it off — the whole concept will seem out of whack because if it was not for him there may never have been rugby league in Australia.

The short, stocky wing or centre, a non-drinker an non-smoker throughout his career, was the first big name to break away from rugby union and join the newly formed NSW rugby league competition in 1907.

Rugby union officials were so furious they struck his name from the records for almost a century.

More than a century after his rugby league career ended his name is still known and the game’s annual awards (the Dally Ms) are named after him.

If he is snubbed the obvious question will linger … if Messenger is not in the top 10 players in history why bother naming the game’s grandest night after him?

If Messenger isn’t good enough, who is?

Such was his fame that, in 1940, the Truth newspaper profiled his life and career in a 14-part series, declaring him “the greatest player of all time … genius of Rugby football of either code”.

Historians will be present at the meeting for those judges who want to dive back into the sepia tinted past.

Unlike judges’ meetings of previous years there will no show of hands so no peer pressure to join mates in a voting block. Judges will be asked to log their votes by computer when they leave.

Hopefully there will be no eight-hour argument among the judges like there was in 1981 when Bob Fulton pipped Graeme Langlands but even if there is there’s one sweet compensation — it’s better than talking about the bunker.