Cameron Smith tipped to be next NRL Immortal as Darren Lockyer detail emerges after seven years

It’s a matter of when – not if – Cameron Smith joins the list of rugby league Immortals. And there's a growing belief his time will come as soon as Wednesday night when the NRL announces the 14th member of this elite group of players.

That's despite Smith only retiring four years ago after a record 430 games for Melbourne, 42 Queensland Origin appearances and 56 matches for Australia. A tweak to the Hall of Fame rules allowing players who retired three years ago – instead of five – will see the champion hooker added to the HOF list, which automatically makes him eligible for Immortal status.

Many believe the change was made with a view to elevating Smith this year instead of making him wait longer. Premiership-winning Penrith halfback Greg Alexander told Radio SEN: "I was originally of the thought that Ron Coote, Brett Kenny - those that have retired for a long time – would be next in line.

"But if you had everyone who's a chance of being the next Immortal lined up, then Cameron Smith wins because his record and what's he's done in the game can't be matched. "I reckon (he's) a short-priced favourite to be announced the next Immortal."

Cameron Smith says becoming an Immortal would be 'surreal'

Smith, Cooper Cronk, Johnathan Thurston and Billy Slater will be among a list of players formally inducted into the Hall of Fame on Wednesday night. That ceremony will be followed by the first Immortal inductee since 2018.

Smith said of his chances: "If that was to happen it would be quite surreal given the people that are already in that category of legends of our game. "There's a lot of wonderful players yet to be announced as Immortals that I think in the future will be.

"If my name's read out, it will be hard for it to sink in in that moment. I'm not going there with any expectations at all. I'm just going to enjoy the night with the people that are being inducted in the Hall of Fame. Whatever happens, happens. Whoever goes in will be extremely deserving of getting that status."

Storm coach Craig Bellamy has no doubt Smith deserves a place alongside rugby league's very best. "He’s the greatest player I’ve ever seen," he said. "No one's gone over 400 games and he's also played over 100 representative games for Australia and Queensland in that time. It's quite remarkable and hasn't been done in the game before (and) I really can't see it happening again."

NRL rule set to cost Darren Lockyer Immortal status?

In 2012, the year after Lockyer announced his retirement, there was a strong view that the Broncos champion should be the next Immortal but at the time the five-year rule was in place. Come 2017 - the first year he could have been inducted by the old ruleset - he was considered the favourite to be named the ninth Immortal by the Rugby League Week (RLW) magazine only for the publication to be closed and all its intellectual property, including the Immortals concept, bought by the NRL.

"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."

The NRL's judging panel then went a different direction in 2018, snubbing Lockyer in favour of giving past legends Dally Messenger, Frank Burge, Dave Brown, Norm Provan and Mal Meninga Immortal status. Since then, the likes of Slater, Smith and Thurston have seemingly leapfrogged him in the future Immortal line.

But that likely won't bother Lockyer too much. In 2016, Lockyer told a RLW journalist that didn't believe he had done enough to sit in that category. "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 in a 2016 interview, revealed by AAP on Tuesday. "I don't put myself in that category."

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Instead, Lockyer believed former Broncos captain Allan Langer should be handed Immortal status. "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 at the time. "I don't think I've ever played with someone in my career who had that same individual impact. He was a special player."

with AAP