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Opinion

The next rugby league Immortal

Roar Guru
14th March, 2021
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Roar Guru
14th March, 2021
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Rugby league Immortal – three words guaranteed to polarise any league audience.

For clarity, I’ll admit I’m in the camp of those who are against it and believe that membership of the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame is sufficient recognition for the greats of the game.

I believe the accolade lost its shine and most of its credibility when Andrew Johns became the eighth Immortal (I mean, really?), a level of recognition far beyond his career achievements. How he was elevated to Immortal status in 2012 at all, let alone ahead of Dave Brown, Dally Messenger, Norm Provan, Mal Meninga and Frank Burge, all of whom had to wait another six years for Immortal status, will remain one of life’s great mysteries.

Now it seems that almost any retired Queenslander – Johnathan Thurston, Darren Lockyer, Cameron Smith, Greg Inglis, Billy Slater et cetera – is referred to as either an ‘Immortal in waiting’ or a ‘future Immortal’ even though, with the exception of Lockyer, they haven’t yet achieved the prerequisite hall of fame status.

Anyway, this comes up for discussion on a regular basis, and we’re stuck with the Immortal concept for the time being whether we like it or not. So how does it work?

The selection process these days is quite exhaustive, and I won’t go into all the detail here. Suffice to say that the key points are that a player must first be on the hall of fame register, and between one and two players will be elevated to Immortal status every four years.

The last Immortals were added in 2018, so in 2022, ready or not, at least one and maybe two players will be elevated. There are 110 players currently on the hall of fame register and 13 current immortals, so that leaves 97 players to be considered by the selection panel.

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So who has a chance of joining the list of Immortals in 2022? Well, potentially any of the eligible 97 players from the hall of fame could make it, but I’d like the think that the following two players are the leading contenders to achieve immortal status next year.

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Ken Irvine
Stats
Forty-two tries in 39 matches for Australia, 30 tries in 24 games for New South Wales, seven tries in eight games for City Firsts, 212 tries in 236 first-grade games in 1958-73 for North Sydney and Manly, Australian record-holder for first-grade tries, two premierships with Manly and three Kangaroo tours

Accolades
Australia’s team of the century, NSW team of the century, North Sydney Bears team of the century and Manly Warringah 60th anniversary dream team.

Ken Irvine played in an era when the role of the winger was to take advantage of the opportunities created by those inside him and score tries, and that’s precisely what he did time after time, year after year.

Irvine was diminutive for even a halfback by today’s standards, but he was one of the fastest footballers on the planet during his career and was impossible to run down. He had great positional sense, safe hands and a devastating swerve at top speed that left defenders floundering in his wake. He had no peer as a winger during his career and was an automatic selection in the Australian side between 1960 and 1967 after first being selected to play for Australia as a 19-year-old in 1959.

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Irvine achieved his freakish premiership try-scoring record of 212 tries while playing most of his career for North Sydney, who were battlers at best during those years. Even with the corner post changes of recent years it’s hard to see any player getting close to his try-scoring feats of just under a try per game over such a long career. His record has stood for nearly 50 years.

Ken Irvine was clearly the greatest Australian winger of all time.

Noel Kelly
Stats
Thirty-three internationals for Australia, five matches for Queensland; five matches for New South Wales, two matches for City Firsts, three Kangaroo tours.

Accolades
Australia’s team of the century, Queensland team of the century, Western Suburbs Magpies team of the century.

Playing at only 90 kilograms, Kelly was small for a forward, but there was no tougher or more feared front-rower in the game both before and since he first took the field. Like it or not, rugby league in the 1950s and 60s was close to open warfare, and scrums were fiercely contested and not for the faint-hearted. Winning possession in the unlimited tackle era was vital. It was in this environment Kelly thrived, and his uncompromising approach helped his team more often than not win the battle for possession and dominate the middle of the field.

Beginning his career in Queensland, where at one point he formed part of the fearsome Brothers front row with Dud Beattie and Gary Parcell, Kelly then had nine seasons with the Western Suburbs Magpies between 1961 and 1969, the last four as captain-coach, and later went on to coach the North Sydney Bears for four seasons between 1973 and 1976.

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Equally at home at either hooker or prop forward, Kelly was a butcher by trade off the field – and some say on it as well. He combined the skills required to win possession for his team and the ruthless approach to ensure that the opposition struggled to gain the ascendency.

Kelly was one of the greatest Australian front-rowers to play the game.

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