The NRL have confirmed they will name another Immortal in August, and reports have already jumped to the conclusion that Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston are in the mix.

That comes with the NRL altering the rules, allowing players to be addmitted to the Hall of Fame just three years after their retirement.

There is little doubt that Smith and Thurston will be among the group of players added to the Hall of Fame at the ceremony, with a fair chance Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk will join them.

But the NRL simply can not admit any of those players as Immortals yet. The Immortals concept is supposed to recognise the greatest players in the history of the game, and while there is little doubt those players are going to be there one day, now would be too soon.

They were widely panned for adding Andrew Johns too early back in 2012, and can't afford to make the same mistake here, particularly given the number of other candidates who should be considered from previous generations, including one of Johns' great rivals.

Here are ten players the NRL should be considering for the next Immortal spot.

This story was originally published in July.

3. Darren Lockyer

The big question around Lockyer is whether the NRL considers it to be too soon. Under new rules, they will induct one player as an Immortal every four years. In the coming decades, there are going to be a number of players who require induction, which means the game are probably running out of chances to induct players from earlier generations.

There is little doubt that Lockyer will one day come under consideration as an Immortal though, and there is no reason as to why he shouldn't be in the running to be named here.

A one-club player, Lockyer played 355 games for the Broncos during a career that spanned from 1995 to 2011, while he also played a staggering 59 Tests for Australia (38 of which he captained) and 36 Origins for Queensland.

A long-term club, state and national captain, his versatility in being able to shift from fullback to the halves without dropping any of his level saw his storied career bring with it three NRL premierships in 1998, 2000 and 2006, as well as a Super League in 1997.

He won the Dally M Fullback of the Year three times and five-eighth of the Year three times, took out the Wally Lewis Medal in 2006 and the Clive Churchill Medal in 2000, was named in Queensland's Team of the Century in 2008 and took out the Golden Boot in 2003 and 2006.