{"id":411701,"date":"2024-07-12T02:16:33","date_gmt":"2024-07-12T02:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=411701"},"modified":"2024-07-12T06:07:41","modified_gmt":"2024-07-12T06:07:41","slug":"league-great-tears-apart-popular-immortal-choices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=411701","title":{"rendered":"League great tears apart popular Immortal choices"},"content":{"rendered":"

T\ufeffhe NRL has announced a 14th Immortal will be inducted for the first time since 2018<\/a> next month, prompting fierce debate as to which former player will be awarded the honour.<\/p>\n

The revised ruling has caused a stir as it opens the prospect of modern-era greats including Billy Slater<\/a>, Cameron Smith<\/a> and Johnathan Thurston<\/a> to be inducted.<\/p>\n

However, the rule changes have left many league greats including Mark Geyer<\/a> and Wayne Bennett<\/a> questioning whether current greats should be honoured before past heroes.<\/p>\n

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The most recent player to retire and be honoured as an Immortal was Andrew Johns<\/a>, who left the game in 2007.<\/p>\n

While he was included before many past legends, including some of this year's leading candidates \ufeffRon Coote, Peter Sterling and Brett Kenny, a chorus of league greats were at the forefront of his call to be honoured.<\/p>\n

\"Ron<\/p>\n

Geyer disagreed with the idea of placing the legendary Maroons<\/a> trio ahead of the likes of Kenny, Sterling and Coote in the Immortal hierarchy.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffBlokes like (Darren) Lockyer, Cameron Smith, Alfie Langer, and Johnathan Thurston… I think they will all eventually be Immortalised, but for me, the next person sounds like Ron Coote," he said on Triple M's Mick and MG in the Morning<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"He 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…<\/p>\n

"I think someone like Ron Coote can not 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.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

"\ufeffIt's either him, Brett Kenny or Peter Sterling.<\/p>\n

"I think Brett Kenny's \ufeffunmatched record of scoring in consecutive grand finals (81, 82, 82) – he scored two tries in each grand final. He was the golden boot player with a fantastic record as has Peter Sterling.<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

"I wouldn't be fussed if I saw either of them three players \ufeffImmortalised."<\/p>\n

Geyer refused to dismiss the prospect of the modern Maroons greats becoming Immortals, stating their time will come in the near future. \ufeff<\/p>\n

"I think Cameron Smith is definitely going to be Immortalised. He is the best player I've seen in the game," he said.<\/p>\n

"(But) I think Brett Kenny and Peter Sterling [should be next], then the next brigade with Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston, Darren Lockyer, and Billy Slater.<\/p>\n

"(Slater) \ufeffwas the best fullback in our game. He will be Immortalised maybe in a decade but at the moment \ufefflet's all put our hands together and get Ron Coote on that legendary status."<\/p>\n

Bennett called for the NRL to recognise past greats before modern legends, stating younger candidates "still have a few years in front of them" to receive the opportunity to be inducted.<\/p>\n

"There are a lot of great players," Bennett said.<\/p>\n

\"(Left-right)<\/p>\n

"If you talk about Alf, Darren Lockyer, Cameron Smith and Billy Slater… you've got to talk about all those players, but Ron Coote, he has an outstanding playing record. Absolutely outstanding.<\/p>\n

"The (NRL) did honour Norm Provan towards the end of his life and he should have been.<\/p>\n

"The other guys have got a few years in front of them and have (other) opportunities to get inducted.<\/p>\n

"I have no part in the process, I wasn't aware it was happening. I don't know who the nominees were."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

T\ufeffhe NRL has announced a 14th Immortal will be inducted for the first time since 2018 next month, prompting fierce debate as to which former […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":411703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411701"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=411701"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":411707,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411701\/revisions\/411707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/411703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=411701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=411701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=411701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}