History made as rugby league Immortals named

Dally Messenger, Frank Burge, Dave Brown, Norm Provan and Mal Meninga have been inducted into the history books as the newest rugby league Immortals.

For the first time ever, players from the pre-World War II era were considered for the honour following an eligibility change – paving the way for Messenger, Burge and Brown to be inducted, along with Provan and Meninga.

In a surprising twist, the five Immortals were named from a shortlist of ten, including Brian Bevan, Duncan Hall, Ken Irvine, Ron Coote, and Darren Lockyer – but the NRL was only planning to announce two in total.

However a judging panel including Wally Lewis, Bob Fulton, Andrew Johns, Wayne Bennett, Phil Gould, Ray Warren and Steve Crawley felt the early 20th century players would miss the chance to join the group if they were not recognised now.

“The judges took the view that this was a one-off opportunity to recognise the past, to recognise three players from the pre-war era who became legends of the game,” NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said.

The award’s original owners, Rugby League Week, initially made players from before the Second World War ineligible given the judges hadn’t seen them play live.

“If the panel did not take this step we could have lost our chance to include these champion players among our Immortals,” Greenberg said.

“It was an opportunity the game could not afford to miss and the Immortals now reflect the full history of rugby league from 1908 to the present.”

Messenger, Brown and Burge are remembered among the greatest pioneers of the sport in Australia.

Messenger defected from rugby union to help form the game of rugby league in the early 1900s, and his remarkable commitment to the game has been recognised with the top honour.

As one of the first professional rugby league players in Australia, Messenger’s legacy lives on through the ‘Dally M’ medal awarded to the best NRL player each season.

Burge started his rugby league career in 1911 at just 16-years-old, debuting for Glebe, and he went on to score 146 tries in just 154 matches.

Brown was a centre-winning premiership player who was most prominent in his 11 years with the Easts – scoring an astonishing 244 points in the 1935 season, from just 15 appearances.

Provan and Meninga were voted in by the judging panel to reflect the modern era of the game, boosting the membership of rugby league’s most elite group from 11 to 13 on the same night.

Provan is already recognised on the NRL’s premiership trophy, standing alongside Arthur Summons in the game’s most famous image.

However the second-rower was a star in his own right between 1951 and 1965, his 10 premierships at the Dragons made even more impressive by the fact he won the last five as captain-coach.

Meninga is the youngest of the inductees after finishing with three premierships and 74 tries in 166 games for Canberra to go with his 45 Tests and 42 State of Origins between 1982 and 1994.

His success has since transferred into the coaching box, where he led Queensland to eight-straight series wins and took the Kangaroos to a World Cup success last year.

Messenger, Burge, Brown, Meninga and Provan join fellow Immortals Andrew Johns (2012), Clive Churchill (1981), Bob Fulton (1981), Reg Gasnier (1981), Johnny Raper (1981), Graeme Langlands (1999), Wally Lewis (1999) and Arthur Beetson (2003) in the history books.

As part of the ceremony at the Sydney Cricket Ground, rugby league Hall of Famers were also formally inducted, including Mark Graham, Cliff Lyons, Ricky Stuart, Golden Tallis, Steve Menzies and Petro Civoniceva.

with AAP.