Over the past few years, the idea of the rugby league Immortal has become increasingly prestigious, with becoming an Immortal the equivalent of joining the Hall of Fame in other sports.
There has been plenty of speculation as to who will be the game's ninth immortal following Andrew Johns being announced as the eighth in 2012.
Here are 10 players who could be named as the next Immortal (in no particular order).
The list begins with the runner up in the 8th immortal decision. Mal Meninga has quite the resume for the spot of immortal number 9.
He has won 3 premierships with the Canberra Raiders as their captain, played 32 games for the Queensland Origin team and 46 games for Australia at representative level.
He’s even made history in today’s game coaching Queensland to 8 Origin wins in a row. He’s also won multiple individual awards, winning the Golden Boot in 1989, back to back Dally M Centre of the Year awards in 1990 and 1991, Rugby League Week Player of the Year in 1990, and Dally M Captain of the year twice in 1991 and 1994.
If that isn’t enough, Meninga has scored a total of 1,683 points in his professional career.
Darren Lockyer could easily become the NRL’s 9th immortal. Possibly one of the most influential players in rugby league history, the Broncos knew they were right whenever Lockie was on the field.
From 1998-2007 Lockyer won the following awards, some multiple times: Dally M Fullback of the year, Clive Churchill Medal, Dally M Representative Player of the Year, Golden Boot (first player to do so in 2 positions), Dally M Five-Eighth of the Year, Proven Summons Medal, RLIF Back of the Year, Ron McAullife Medal, Wally Lewis Medal and the Harry Sunderland Medal.
Oh and he’s won 4 premierships with his beloved Brisbane Broncos, where in 2000 he won the aforementioned Clive Churchill Medal.
For starters he is in a very exclusive class of commentators you don’t want to mute as soon as they open their mouth. In all seriousness, this man has pretty much done it all.
He is the first ever Clive Churchill medal winner in 1986 for his performance in the grand final against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs. Sterlo has gone on to win 4 premierships with the Eels and like the two players before him has a lot of achievements.
Keep in mind he has won some of these awards multiple times. Dally M Halfback of the Year, Rugby League Week Player of the Year, Clive Churchill Medal, back to back Dally M Player of the Year awards (which happens to be rugby league’s highest individual honour), Golden Boot Award, Rothmans Medal and the Ken Stephen Memorial Award.
Now it’s time for most people’s favourite to win the 9th immortal spot. You can’t have a list for the next NRL immortal and not include the man who has won four Dally M Player of the Year Medals, more than any other player in history.
Not only has Thurston been superb on the field, but has displayed a great attitude towards the youth of the rugby league community, personally high-fiving junior league players when running out on to the field and giving away his headgear to a child in the crowd at the end of each game.
His achievements in the game are monumental and keep in mind just like the rest on our list, some of these awards have been won multiple times. The aforementioned Dally M Player of the year awards, Clive Churchill Medal, Dally M Halfback of the Year, RLIF Back of the Year, Rugby League Week Player of the Year, Wally Lewis Medal, RLIF Halfback of the Year, Golden Boot, Dally M Five-Eighth of the Year, Ken Stephan Memorial Award, Ron McAuliffe Medal, Proven Summons medal and RLPA Player of the Year.
Finally, who could forget the 2015 grand final where JT kicked the match winning field goal against the Broncos and won that year’s Clive Churchill medal in what many say is rugby league’s greatest grand final.
Nathan Hindmarsh is the first player to make our list that has never won a grand final. However, he is the first player in NRL history to make over 10,000 tackles!
This gives him the honour of most tackles in NRL history. Nathan Hindmarsh has also had his fair share of individual honours, with the most notable being his 5 Proven Summons medals, which is the NRL’s version of the fans player of the year.
He has also won the Dally M Second Rower of the year and the Rugby League Week Player of the Year on multiple occasions and winning the Ken Stephan Memorial Award in 2009.
The current Queensland and Australian captain is a must for this list. Captaining his beloved Melbourne Storm to 3 grand final wins in *2007, *2009 and 2012.
He has also won the Ron McAuliffe Medal, Dally M Hooker of the Year, Dally M Representative Player of the Year, Wally Lewis Medal, RLIF Hooker of the Year and Dally M Captain of the Year on multiple occasions. He also won the Dally M Medal in 2006, the Golden Boot in 2007 and the RLIF Player of the Year in 2012.
This year Smith made history by playing his 40th State of Origin game which is more than any other player in NRL history.
*Grand final wins revoked by the NRL after Melbourne Storm salary cap scandal in 2010.
The great "Brandy" Alexander, the man who kicked the goal that won the Penrith Panthers the 1991 grand final. Although he has not won many awards, the awards he has won have been prestigious.
Alexander has won the Dally M rookie of the year in 1984, the Dally M half back of the year and 3 occasions and the prestigious Dally M player of the year award in 1985. Alexander is also regarded as Penrith’s first local to play for Australia.
In 1985 he also broke the previously long standing club point scoring record.
Allan Langer is a multiple grand final winner who has also won his fair share of individual awards.
Like most of the other players on this list, he has won the Rugby League Week Player of the Year. He has also won multiple highly prestigious Dally M Player of the year and Rothmans medal.
He is now known as the little kid that could. Possibly his most famous feat though was returning to Australia in 2001 to save the Origin series for his beloved Queensland, in which he was embraced by his long time coach Wayne Bennet afterwards.
Now this entry is very out of left field. At 19 years of age although Ponga is an unproven talent, but has a lot of potential.
Kalyn Ponga will be earning $600,000 per year from 2018-2021, meaning he will have high expectations at the Newcastle Knights. He was regarded as one of the best players in the 2017 Auckland Nines series.
He has also looked good in the few first-grade games that he has played in 2016-17, but will he prove to be an overrated player or one of the greats?
Only time will tell.
Cooper Cronk has been in the media a lot lately over speculation as to what club he will be at in 2018, but his accomplishments whilst at the Melbourne Storm are to be highly noted.
He is a premiership winner and is highly regarded as one of, if not the best halfback, in rugby league at the moment.
He has won the Clive Churchill medal, Dally M medal and the Dally M halfback of the year on multiple occasions. The fact that there is this much talk around where Cronk will be next season just goes to show how much of a commodity he is.
Cronk, along with Cameron Smith and Billy Slater, has led the Melbourne Storm to dominance over the past decade and their legacy will never be forgotten in the great game that is rugby league.