Naming five new Immortals honours past, looks after future
Author: Brad Walter, Senior Reporter
Timestamp: Wed 1 Aug 2018, 09:05 PM
As they debated the merits of the 10 players on the short list to be inducted as the game’s ninth and 10th Immortals, the judges of the game’s most prestigious honour expressed concerns they may be putting a line through the other eight candidates forever.
With up to two new Immortals to be considered every four years under the NRL’s revamped awards format, and players becoming eligible five years after retiring, it is widely predicted Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston will become the 13th and 14th inductees in 2026.
Therefore, after it was finally decided the players from the pre-World War II era should be considered for the first time since the Immortals concept began in 1981, there was a fear
Dave Brown,
Frank Burge and
Dally Messenger may never be granted the status they deserved.
Ditto for
Norm Provan, who captained St George in 10 of their 11 consecutive grand final triumphs between 1956 and 1966, and was also coach in the last four, but had previously been overlooked in 1981, 1999, 2003 and 2012.
The view of those who had chosen each of the previous eight Immortals had been the concept should always look forward and there is a widespread belief that
Mal Meninga and Darren Lockyer are players from the game’s modern era worthy of induction.
Meninga, who is the only player to have been on four Kangaroo Tours, also won three premierships with Canberra. He had also been on previous shortlists but Lockyer has time on his side and would be a favourite for inclusion in 2022, after retiring in 2011 as Australia’s most capped player and captain.
However, the new guidelines established by the NRL for the revamped Immortals concept limiting the number of times a player can be shortlisted to three meant the opportunities for Brown, Burge, Messenger, Provan and Meninga to be afforded the honour were limited.
Even if those who missed out were considered in future Immortals Years, they would soon be on a collision course with the likes of Smith and Thurston, as well as those in the Hall of Fame, including the latest inductees, Mark Graham, Ricky Stuart, Petero Civoniceva, Gorden Tallis, Cliff Lyons and Steve Menzies.
After a lengthy discussion before the 10 judges cast their confidential votes on a 3-2-1 basis, it was decided
Brown, Burge and Messenger should join the two players who polled highest – Provan and Meninga – as Immortals.
The outcome of the secret ballot validates the reason Brown, Burge and Messenger had never previously been considered, despite being regarded as three of the greatest players of all time and playing a significant role in the game’s history.
As no one involved in the process had ever seen them play, it was decided when the Immortals concept was first conceived by
Rugby League Week, under the editorship of Ian Heads, that only players whose careers had occurred after the end of World War II in 1945 should be considered.
Heads was one of the 10 people charged with selecting the new Immortals, along with fellow ex-Rugby League Week editor Norm Tasker, Immortals Bob Fulton, Wally Lewis and Andrew Johns, coaching greats Wayne Bennett and Phil Gould, Fox Sports head of sport Steve Crawley, veteran Nine commentator Ray Warren and NRL CEO Todd Greenberg.
While Greenberg had announced earlier this year that there would be up to two Immortals chosen, there was never going to be only one and the popular view was that there should be one from the game’s pre-war era and one modern-day player.
Messenger, whose greatness as a player and role in establishing the game in 1908 is already recognised with the NRL’s player of the year award – the Dally M Medal - named in his honour, was considered a virtual certainty.
Yet what of Burge, whose 146 tries in 154 first-grade games during a 16-year career from 2011 was only recently bettered by another forward in Steve Menzies, and Brown, nicknamed the “Bradman of League” for his prolific pointscoring and Australia’s youngest captain at 22 years of age in 1935.
The selection panel agreed unanimously that they deserved Immortal status too, and so five players were inducted in a decision that ensures the legends who built the game's foundations will be celebrated by future generations, along with the likes of Smith and Thurston.
