It's the Cowboys' trophy to lose from here

BRING BAK DAVID LORD, LONG LIVE THE BEST WRITER, DEATH TO THOSE WHO OPPOSE DAVID

Glad someone else took notice. The count went from 4-1 to the Broncos to 7-4 to the cows, with the Broncs receiving their fifth after a 60+ minute drought. The cows must have really sharpened up their discipline.

Broncos winning back to back prems in the 90's = obviously over the cap, no doubt about, put an asterisk next to them. Meanwhile, here we have the cows with a real chance to do something not even a confirmed over the cap Melbourne were able to do in their heyday. Now I'm not saying that they're over the cap (I don't even agree with many aspects of the cap), but it's a bit funny how the Cows manage to dodge the hatred and vitriol that the Broncs, Storm, or Manly endured during their periods of dominance. They've been contenders, and it'd be fair to say that they've choked badly in the past, for over five years now.

BTW love the name. I am a fan of history. I think you nailed it. "NSW certainly needed their own hero myth to match that of Qld’s King Wally, but it shouldn’t have come at the cost of cheapening ‘the immortal’ concept." Maybe John's would not be judged an Immortal if time was given for the dust to settle on his career, especially with a guy like Thurston still running around breaking every record. It was rushed and it is quite possible the reason you give had something to do with that. Especially when someone with the status of Mel Meninga with all his achievements was looked over.

I'm with you VOR - I reckon there's some trauma-related amnesia going on for all those south of the border who don't rate Langer in the same bracket as Andrew Johns. Johns' status in the game is inflated, no doubt about it. He was a great player, but I think he's done well out of being from NSW, in terms of gaining his 'Immortal' status ahead of some other players. NSW certainly needed their own hero myth to match that of Qld's King Wally, but it shouldn't have come at the cost of cheapening 'the immortal' concept. Johns was sublime when his powers were at their peak but he didn't dominate for long enough in my view, at the highest level e.g. origin. Alfie on the other hand was prolific throughout his long career (e.g. three different decades/eras in origin). And he's still setting up tries from the back field today. If you look at Alfie's record (or Mal Meninga's or even Glenn Lazarus) compared to Johns it's clear that the decision makers were too hasty in anointing Johns. It certainly wasn't received unanimously at the time, and is still obviously a sticking point today.

Thank you. I remember watching Alf slowly jog out and stop just past the cheerleaders after emptying the last of his stomach contents from the Casino the night before. Then he would wander slowly to his position looking around checking his team mates were all out there as well. Sterlo use to come out bow legged like a little old man in oversized shoulder pads and get caught up in the advertising banner. JT knocked knees shuffling along with children on either side stopping to point out where mum and dad are sitting. Shortly after flicking his hair back to put on his head gear like a royal crown whilst looking at the crowd. Ricky would come out cranky and frowning and serious as hell looking to see if any team mates need a good clip to get their minds on the job. Then Joey who changed over the years. He came out faster as he got older unlike the others. His eyes got bigger, he would laugh and run around slapping his team mates on the back like a jack rabbit at times yelling at them as if this was his dance floor and they were all out there to have a good time and he was the ring leader.

If Johns is there 100's more deserve the Immortal tag. I agree a better system is required.

There it is Rob. Alf ran rings around Sterling arriving on the scene in 1987 and QLD went onto win the next 3 series, 1988 and 1989 by 3-0. In Langer's swansong Queensland retain the Origin shield in 2002 with Johns playing against Allan Langer in all three games at halfback for NSW. As you say, Langer was indeed 36 years old. A phenomenal effort at that level. Andrew Johns was 28. Allan Langer received man of the match in Sydney for the series decider.

Surely anyone with an opinion has a bias towards that opinion Sideline Comm. I guess we are all blind when we think we have the high ground called the truth, especially when it's consistently repeated by the 4th estate, in this case the boys club at Channel 9. I'd say there are a few selective memories on this forum in addition to my own. Take the myth that Johns was a better defender than Langer. Langer was known for regularly making 3, 4 and sometimes 5 tackles in a row against forwards during a set sprinting out from marker position. He was known for that. Sure Johns had great front on tackling technique but there is more to defense than the occasional lift and drive, impressive as it was. I make the case the the myth of the Immortal Johns was created on the back of several dynamics: 1. He was a great player that contributed to a Newcastle premiership 2. Johns playing halfback in 2003 series win preventing QLD from holding the shield for 3 years in a row.
 3. Johns coming back from injury in 2005 to help NSW come from behind and win the series. This gave NSW there 3rd series win in a row. Johns never steered NSW to a series winning 3-0. He was however on the receiving end of one. As shown by the facts Johns Origin career was well below immortal status from 1995-2002. In 2002 Langer is man of the match in a series decider played in Sydney with Johns his opposing number. In 2003 Langer had retired and Johns puts his stamp on Origin as a halfback opposing a modest QLD halfback in Shaun Berrigan. Johns doesn’t play 2004. In 2005 the Myth is born in John’s last Origin series. NSW finally had their hero. I agree with The Barry regarding the Immortal concept. I think our so called 'experts' bought it into disrepute naming Johns as an Immortal, especially in front of Big Mal. I know there are plenty of fans that think the same.

Langer has Johns covered anytime anywhere. Out played Sterling on debut and came back from retirement to dominate Johns at 36.

I think the vast majority of RL supporrers would agree with thaf TB. Even though the NRL has a hall of fame and every RL club in the country has their own as well, its just not celebrated as it deserves to be. Besides the players you mentioned, we should celebrate our freat coaches and administrators.

Only kidding re Stuart being an immortal but serious that I don't think Langer can be one. But that's why I think the immortal concept has jumped the shark. It should be a vehicle for celebrating the great players through the history of our game, instead it's ridiculously exclusive and divisive as a result. Johns gets in and instead of celebrating how good a player he was we have five years of arguments about whether Meninga or Provan or Langer were better. It defeats the purpose. The NRL needs to re-launch it's hall of fame and take the focus away from RLW's immortal concept. Think of all the great players who would rightly sit in a hall of fame but will never be immortals: Kenny, Sterling, Grothe, Price, Cronin, Lamb, Mortimer, Roach, Pearce, Elias, Stuart, Daley, Clyde, Lazarus, Langer, Tallis, Walters, Girdler, Fittler, Wing, Hindmarsh, Kennedy, Menzies, Lyons, Price, Webcke, Civoneceva, Ettingshausen, Miller, Peachey, etc, etc, There's so many great players that should be celebrated instead of taking out very best players and 'forcing' fans to take sides.

My tips would be that Cowboys and the Raiders would be a good Grand Final. Raiders for the trophy.

V.O.R., I know there's no point, but your bias is obviously blinding you here. Like mushi said, there are multiple aspects of the game in which Johns was better than Langer. I'm taking nothing away from Alfie, but Johns changed the way the attacking game was played. He was bigger, stronger, and his kicking game was incredible. Also, I just think it's incredibly hubris to assume that the extraordinarily qualified judges for the immortals are wrong, and you know better. I can't even imagine it. Do you think Wayne Bennett, Ray Warren, John Grant (Chairman ARL Commission), David Middleton, Ray Hadley, Phil Rothfield, Roy Masters, all RLW editors, and most significantly, all the other living Immortals, would be wrong? As to Thurston: freak and a sure immortal. Thurston shades Johns in running game and touch, Johns shades Thurston in defence and kicking game.

Cannot wait Jimmmy... it doesn't get much better than this Friday night.

Every marker? Johns had a much better long kicking and long passing game. More powerful runner and better tackler. Langer is a little forgotten from that era due to meninga and lewis but its pretty incrdulous to say he was better in every aspect of the game

The "club level" does ignore pre broncos or when they were both there

A recent one that goes against the "best defence wins" theory is the Cowboys of 2015. They were the 5th best defence.

Was the penalty count 6-1 to the Cowboys in the 2nd half? Boy! Given the Cowboys received 8 in total for the match and the Broncos got 6, then the Broncos got a leg up in the 1st half.

Gee it must have killed you to write this article Patrick. Are you coming across to the bright side now? ;-) I wouldn't go so far as to say it's the Cowbies to lose so much as it's probably the storm who are favourites, and rightly so. I have read through the comments and the consensus seems to be that most people think that the Cowbies are cooked. Too much footy over a long season. Some injuries (finally), got problems with travel - again, JT isn't as good as Joey, Sharkies are fresh, you know what? It don't mean nothing. There's a very good reason no team has gone back to back for years and it's mainly due to changed rosters plus injuries plus every team wanting to take the premiership winners scalp. Nobody has pulled the Cowboys pants down this year have they? Minimal injuries all year. Basically the same squad for the entire season. Apart from the plain desire to win and the total commitment to do all it takes to play for %100 of the game at %100 effort for %100 of the time. Not many sides have that commitment and what should be making Sharkies fans nervous is that during the Bronc's game the Cowbies finished with only %70 odd completions. Quite a few errors and way too many missed tackles. Loads of room for improvement. Cronulla on the other hand have had a week off. Only just beat the Raiders. And had a form slump at the tail end of the regular season. I'm one of the believers in momentum and in the Sharks case I believe it will be detrimental to their chances.