Locker Room: Rugby league greats have their say on who should be named NRL’s 14th Immortal

Ahead of the NRL’s 14th Immortal announcement, the debate rages over whether the NRL will rectify the past with its induction, or usher in a current-day great. DAVID RICCIO breaks down the decision and gets the opinion of some rugby league greats.

Les Boyd’s arrival into the Rugby League Hall of Fame proves that even when you win in this great game, you lose.

“Les Boyd …. 9 Months suspension for breaking my Jaw in 1983. 12 Months for Eye gouging Billy Johnston,” Boyd’s aggrieved rival Darryl “The Big Marn’ Brohman, justifiably posted on social media last Thursday.

“Gets inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame. Please!!!!”

No other sport in Australia does outrage better than rugby league.

We’ll debate everything from Hall of Fame inductees to the colour of Craig Bellamy’s tuxedo.

Which brings us to Wednesday night at the Sydney Cricket Ground when the NRL rolls out the red carpet to announce the most decorated honour of the 14th Immortal.

Former Queensland Origin forward Darryl Brohman has slammed the induction of ex-NSW and Kangaroos forward Les Boyd into the NRL Hall of Fame.

From an esteemed judging panel of 15 past and present officials, journalists and historians, it’s anticipated that one true champion of the game will be chosen to join the likes of Clive Churchill, John Raper, Bob Fulton, Reg Gasnier, Wally Lewis, Mal Meninga and Andrew Johns on the highest echelon of greatness that the game can offer.

Phil Gould believes Brett Kenny or Peter Sterling should be frontrunners.

The Brick with Eyes and five-time premiership-winner Glenn Lazarus is calling for Ron Coote, who played in nine grand finals would probably already have his Immortal blazer if it weren’t for playing at the same time as a bloke called Raper.

Champion Panthers prop Mark Geyer agrees with ‘Lazzo’.

“Ron Coote was a legendary player for South Sydney and the Roosters back in 1960s and 70s. An unmatched grand final record. He went on to found the Men of League,” Geyer said on his brekkie radio show.

Captain Ron Coote kisses World Cup trophy after Australia defeated England in final in Leeds in 1970.

“I think someone like Ron Coote cannot be forgotten. I think that his contribution to our game can never be forgotten and I think that it’s long overdue that he should be an Immortal. He deserves it.”

The super coach Wayne Bennett has been banging the Allan Langer drum for years and more recently Broncos coach Kevin Walters echoed the chant for ‘Alfie’ to be special number 14.

“There is nothing he didn’t do on the field; for the Broncos, captaining the club to four premierships, captaining Queensland to series wins, or for Australia,” Walters said of Langer.

“They have got a statue of him.

“All they have got to do now is make him Immortal.”

The unflappable Darren Lockyer also has worthy support after going close at the last Immortal induction announcement in 2018.

And then there’s Cameron Smith.

The NRL opened the door for the Melbourne Storm legend to become rugby league’s next Immortal, after elevating Smith and his fellow “big three” squad members Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater, into the Hall of Fame.

Wayne Bennett has rallied for the inclusion of Allan Langer. Picture: NRL Photos

Those are the rules, you need to be in the Hall of Fame before you can be considered for Immortality.

Smith is the one though, that when we wake on Thursday morning, the newspaper column inches, radio talkback and social media will be debating either his inclusion, or the decision to keep the most successful State of Origin player in history waiting.

And this is the dilemma that undeniably the 15 judges have had.

Does the game owe itself to rectifying the past by including Coote, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005, or will it choose to usher in a current-day great like Smith?

An Immortal among the game’s best callers, retired commentator Ray ‘Rabs’ Warren is a former judge on the Immortals panel.

For anyone under the age 40, Rabs said Coote had the size, agility, footwork, defence and all-round class comparable to a modern-day Steve Menzies or Isaah Yeo.

Will Cameron Smith reach Immortal status in 2024? Picture: NRL Photos

“My career spanned Ron Coote and Cameron Smith,‘’ Rabs said.

“And it’s hard given my friendship with Ron Coote and I’ve worked with Cameron and I’ve found him to be a wonderful person.

“His record is undeniable. And so too is the other fella (Coote).

“We (past judges) had the same situation as what is unfolding with Coote with Norm Provan, who became an Immortal in 2018.

“It was a case of thinking between all of us, before we started wandering down the Smith, Cronk, Slater avenue, what about this bloke called Provan?

“So we put Provan in.

“Now the game is here with Coote.

“I don’t know which way they’ll go, but you be sure it’s going to be interesting.”

Let the debate begin.