Andrew Johns is not an Immortal, not yet

Agreed that Kenny is "Invincible" worthy, but if you listen to his interviews on youtube there is one player he looked up to and that was Steve Rogers who is also "Invincible" worthy. You can also see that in the 1982 games where 5/8 Kenny followed Centre Rogers around the field like a lamb (NOT Meninga) because he knews his best chances for a break where tagging behind Rogers. In the end Rogers played more as 5/8 and Kenny more as centre. Rogers did not win a premiership with the Sharks because they were largely a bunch of average trundlers, he single-handedly carried that team into the finals as my Dragons fan neighbour who saw him, will also tell you. Rogers had the speed and evasiviness of Kenny + the strength of Meninga. He could bust a head on tackle, something Kenny could not and swerve around three players, something Meninga could not. Rod Reddy called Steve Rogers the greatest player of the 1970's an era that included immortals Fulton and Beetson. There still has not been a more complete footballer than Rogers in terms of vision, strength, speed and hands. JT and Kenny missout on strength, Johns and Lewis miss out on speed, Meninga misses out on vision. At 9:30min here, Kenny on Rogers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7Rt42u4Bg4

The 1997 SL CHAMPIONS Brisbane Broncos would have slaughtered ARL CHAMPIONS Newcastle Knights...1998 Nrl comp showed just how weak the Arl comp was...Johns Premiership and Origin wins compared to lewis. Sterlo .langer. Daily . Locky is weak....and any player would say 4 Premierships are beta than 10 DailyMs..hence all the Dragons Immortals..Johns also failed to repeatedly influence or win origin series against QLD in a weak era..Talk up your false god NSW luvas, but QLDs Champion Players and teams are winning all the silverware and playing in the greenngold..just sayin

spot on, on all counts. the day wally lewis became an immortal was a shameful day indeed. kenny ran rings around him one on one and excelled at every level including in england where lewis had little impact at every level except inspiring qld. ive watched reruns many times and what gets lost in all his accolades and subjective mom awards is he got them mostly off great inspirational play, not much off brilliant play itself. kenny was by far and away the greatest player of them all.

How can Norm Provan not be an immortal? 10 Premierships! Gimme a break. Ken Irvine, Mal Meninga, Laurie Daley, Alfie Langer, Darren Lockyer are automatic selections. I think its a joke Andrew Johns was admitted ahead of any of them.

David Lord, I believe Lockyer too played in this "ordinary era of League" along with Fittler, Daley, Stuart, Tallis, Walters, Clyde, Harragon, Ettingshausen, Alexander etc etc. Sounds like an ordinary bunch to me..... *Note sarcasm. And Johns ruled them all. You can only be as good as what's in front of you. You are an absolute goose - typical Qlder not being able to admit that Johns is the greatest to have played this great game. Lockyer is a deserved 9th Immortal option, as is Meninga, but I hope they don't just keep adding on blokes in the future that aren't really worthy just for the sake of it. The honour will become less and less meaningful. Joey, you deserve your standing amongst the legends. As Phil Gould once said - "it's unfair to judge players from different era's, it's unfair on them because they weren't as good as him"

Wow, so much hate for a man that enjoyed a party life.. I hope some of you people don't have teenagers going to night clubs these days.If you were not so detached from reality, you would know that these party drugs are used widley across all divisions of society and party drugs include alcohol. Alcohol is one of the worst drugs used, however its legal so its fine and socialy acceptable.. I for one can admit to experimenting a little with party drugs and I can confirm for you now that performing at an immortal level on a weekly basis has absouletly nothing to do with party drugs.. If you believe that Johns should not be an Immortal then you have no buisness in NRL at all and probably should take up bingo to pass time!!!

I agree with the guys above that said Brett Kenny should be an Immortal, although he deserves it as much as Wally Lewis or for that matter Andrew Johns he will never be made an Immortal, by far the best player I've ever seen and the prototype player for guys that came after like Laurie Daley, Kevin Walters and Darren Lockyer. I don't believe the journalists or judges from the media are any more qualified than any of the fans to decide who is and who is not Immortal so at the end of the day it actually doesn't mean anything , except the NRL wants to promote the current era of rugby league by naming Andrew Johns as the next Immortal.

That is the stupidest comment I have ever read regarding Johns' use of ecstasy.Well done.

That's surprisingly profound. Mr Ed. is pleasant, intelligent and articulate, Black Caviar is a dumb animal: on the track though, she's an immortal legend. If we can accept the fact that Black Caviar is a better sprinter than Mr. Ed, it shouldn't be too hard to accept Andrew Johns as an immortal.

Other Steve, I appreciate we've both got equal rights to use our own names, and we're probably both going to post some stupid opinions from time to time, but if you are going to put up flat out disingenuous B.S like this, could you please put some sort of disclaimer or warning before it: I'm actually quite embarrassed that 'my' name's on this.

Tyler you have wisdom beyond your years and I could not agree with you more. my 5 year old son has started sitting with dad to watch the footy and I would like to think the immortals represent something he can aspire to. I dont want a drug taker held up as an example for my son.

I think you need to consider the fact that back in the 80's there was no interchange, so fitness needed to be higher, particularly for the forwards because everyone played 80 minutes. Put the 90's and beyond teams in those circumstances and I believe that the potency in there attack would fizzle quite significantly. Add to that the cheap shots and big hits that you mentioned they had to contend with, the players of the 80's where most definitely the "real deal". Never saw one lay down to milk a penalty. More so, get up so no one could see they were hurt.

The fact you named Jack Gibson means you don't even have a scooby what you are talking about. The Immortals is about post WW2 PLAYERS!!!!! No one and I mean NO ONE has had the all around game that Joey had since I have been watching RL in the late 70's. Even Wally only showed his best in Rep footy and he is already an immortal. And to all the off field stuff. Anyone who has not heard the stories about Raper and Langlands on overseas tours has not grown up around real RL.

You will find that Rugby League is not as clean as you believe. All results are listed on the asada website and it is probably in the highest 2 or 3 for positive tests, even though some clubs do their own testing in house. johns was named because of his stature but many others get caught and just do the time. League gets as much attention as most other ASC registered sports when it comes to in house and out of house testing. i love my footy but there is a slightly larger than normal problem with drugs atm. i hope they get it out of the game, its not needed and i would hate to see it turn into a friek show.

The judges who have been selected to choose the 8th Immortal for Rugby League have been told “anything that happened off the field should be ignored.” I disagree with this statement, especially when it comes to immortal finalist Andrew Johns. Mr Johns did not just have a dummy spit or get drunk and run naked around a hotel. His off field discretions helped him become the player that he was. The drugs that he took helped him have a sense of ‘immortality’, he feared no big hits, and he went on and on forever in a day. Unlike his peers Johns, was able to continue with such stamina that left the footy world in awe including myself, a young lad who every weekend would eat, sleep and play rugby league. What message is this man sending out to us the young people of Australia and in fact the rest of the world? “Take Drugs and you will become Immortal.” I do hope the judges take time and consideration when selecting the 8th Immortal, we need someone that the young people of Australia can look up too. As Wayne Bennett stated “None of us are without sin, none of us are without fault” However acknowledging and taking responsibility for your sin is what we need to see, in my opinion Johns has not done that. He accepted no responsibility for his actions instead blaming, ‘depression’, ‘family’ ‘his team’ and most importantly ‘his fans’ – He did not want to let them down. Depression is more than just feeling low. There are effective treatments for those who suffer from Depression, and this does not include taking drugs for 12 years. Johns only came ‘clean’ about his drug use after he was arrested. This is not someone who the judges should be considering for the 8th Immortal of our fine game. This is not someone who has taken responsibility for his actions – something that we young people have been told over and over again “You must take responsibility” “For every action there is a consequence.“ I hope that the judges taken time to consider everything that a finalist has done, on and off the field. For what a player does off the field, makes him the player on the field. Tyler Roberts Aged 14 My son just wrote this letter to the Editor here in Townsville - with a load of support. Dealing with depression is something that we have had to deal as a family - no one to help - unlike AJ who at a touch of button had people all around him to support him in anything he wanted...inculding drugs it seems!

Joey & Mal are both immortals, next should be Provan and Irvine then the other 2.

Yup!

So Lockyer is out of contention too.....

He didn't take speed. He took ecstasy. Even if he did play while high, it wouldntve enhanced his performance

Phelpsy might get a start then. He's got a good grasp of the moral compass. Oh I'm sorry it's called Immortals not Immorals. As much as it hurts me to say it, Johns is hands down the best player I've seen. Off field doesn't mean squat. Ps r u gearing up for a bender this weekend Phelpsy? Who knows u might get on the pingers and have a run in the GF!