Darren Lockyer, Cameron Smith, Allan Langer and Ron Coote contenders for next NRL Immortal spot

A 14th Immortal will be announced by the NRL on Wednesday night and interest centres around whether a past great such as Ron Coote will get the nod, or if modern superstars such as Cameron Smith or Darren Lockyer are honoured.

Brisbane legend Lockyer was a frontrunner in 2017 to be inducted when Rugby League Week (RLW) magazine was on the cusp of naming a ninth Immortal, only for the publication to be closed and all its intellectual property, including the Immortals concept, bought by the NRL.

The NRL’s judging panel went back to the distant past by honouring Dally Messenger, Frank Burge and Dave Brown. Norm Provan and Mal Meninga made up the five new Immortals inducted in 2018.

It was a break from the RLW pattern of mostly moving forward with each of the previous Immortals. The initial four of John Raper, Reg Gasnier, Bob Fulton and Clive Churchill were inducted in 1981. Then followed Graeme Langlands and Wally Lewis in 1999, Arthur Beetson in 2003 and Andrew Johns in 2012.

The late and great Ian Heads, former editor of Rugby League Week, addressed the Immortals judging panel in 2012 and told them of the philosophy of the initial 1981 judges Harry Bath, Frank Hyde and Tom Goodman.

“They came up with two fundamental guidelines which underpin the Immortals concept to this day: firstly, that their preference collectively was to choose only from footballers they had seen play,” Heads said.

“So the line was drawn and the decision made that the Immortals would be chosen from Australia’s post-war players.”

That ethos continued until 2018, when the judges decided that if they did not honour the founding fathers it would never happen.

In 2012 there was a strong view that Lockyer should be an Immortal, but the rule at the time was that a player had to be retired for at least five years. That is now three.

Fast-forward to 2017 and Lockyer was considered the favourite.

“If we had inducted an Immortal in 2017 then ‘Locky’ would have been an absolute certainty, because we would have had the same judging panel and probably added to it,” former RLW editor Martin Lenehan said in 2018.

“The same people in 2012 who thought he should be an Immortal would have been involved again.”

In 2016 Lockyer was interviewed by a RLW journalist about the Immortals concept and who should be next on the list. The story was slated to run in the magazine when it planned to announce in 2017 that the next Immortal was to be named.

The story never saw the light of day because of the magazine’s termination, but AAP can reveal what Lockyer said.

“From my perspective, when I think of the guys that are already in there as Immortals the fact that I am even mentioned in the conversation is humbling,” Lockyer said.

“I don’t put myself in that category.”

He said his former Broncos captain Allan Langer should be in the frame.

“I played a lot of footy with Alf and he just won so many games for us with the Broncos and for Queensland at Origin level,” Lockyer said.

“I don’t think I’ve ever played with someone in my career who had that same individual impact. He was a special player.”

Langer, Parramatta duo Brett Kenny and Peter Sterling, along with Brad Fittler are all understood to be on the short list on Wednesday night, along with Lockyer and Smith.

Coote is one of the sentimental favourites. One of the greatest locks of all time, he won six premierships with South Sydney and Eastern Suburbs in the 1960s and 1970s.

THE FRONTRUNNERS

CAMERON SMITH

The Melbourne legend played a premiership-record 430 games and never made a foolish move on a rugby league field. His former teammate and mentor Matt Geyer once famously said that if you could GPS plot every move the crafty No.9 made on a footy field and then review where he went, all his steps would be the right ones. “Unfortunately for the opposition he often knows what they are going to do before they do it. He has just got that sixth sense that no one has seen before,” Geyer said. Not the fastest. Not the strongest. Smith was simply the best.

RON COOTE

There is sentiment that Coote, one of the greatest locks along with John Raper to lace a boot, is an Immortal omission that needs rectifying. Coote won four premierships with South Sydney and two with Eastern Suburbs. The legendary Arthur Beetson referred to Coote in his autobiography as “the greatest grand final player in the world”. He didn’t stop there with his adulation: “Cootie was the best of my time and a wonderful contributor to two clubs - Easts and Souths. He was a two-club player and just a class person, one of nature’s gentlemen.”

DARREN LOCKYER

Lockyer was a genius as a fullback before switching to five-eighth and becoming equally as dominant on his way to four premierships with Brisbane in a 355-game career. Like Smith he was a prime mover in Queensland’s golden generation of State of Origin dominance. The skill and grace with which he played was poetry in motion. Lockyer was the ultimate closer of a game who would produce his best when the match was on the line. Often underestimated, due to his cool demeanour, was his toughness and resilience. A master of his craft who made the difficult look like a cakewalk.

ALLAN LANGER

The larrikin of the rugby league world was also its shining light throughout the 1990s. They called him the “money man” at Brisbane, where he won four titles as captain. Langer always had the “money” play with his magical short kicking and won countless games on his own with his off-the-cuff running game. His former coach Wayne Bennett once said he would already have been an Immortal if he was from NSW. Langer was also a maestro of the State of Origin arena from 1987 through to 2002. “I believe he is the best Bronco and the most influential player in my time here,” Bennett said in 2018. “At the height of his playing career he was 72kg and he played against some big men in that era, but he shone. He was a star for a decade. In my opinion, he was the best player in the game for a decade.”