Smith not immortal just yet, says King
Cameron Smith’s 2017 season has gone a long way to cementing himself among Immortal chatter in the years to come, but Wally Lewis says the hooker hasn’t pushed his way to the front of the line just yet.
Lewis, the sixth player inducted into the illustrious club that has only eight members to date, said Smith’s chances could even be hampered by the player himself.
At 34, Smith landed his second Dally M Medal last week and has led Melbourne to the grand final as well as Queensland to another State of Origin victory earlier this year.
And as he seems to be showing no signs of slowing down, Lewis said that could end up pushing him down the Immortals’ list of consideration as a player needs to be retired to qualify.
“I believe to be voted in you have to be retired for five years, so I don’t think Cam Smith is going to be because he’s going to play on until he’s about 47, I think!” Lewis told the This Sporting Wife podcast.
“It’ll be a long time before he’s actually retired. He just seems to continue on, to be consistently creative every time he gets the opportunity to run out on to the paddock.”
Lewis said someone like his own Queensland teammate, Mal Meninga, had the records to be among those in the mix for the ninth place, but he stressed that players from previous eras shouldn’t be forgotten.
Andrew Johns became the eighth Immortal in 2012 and since then much of the talk has revolved around more recent players like Darren Lockyer and even Johnathan Thurston, Smith or Greg Inglis.
But Lewis said there was one person, from much further back, whom former players particularly single out as the next candidate.
“There’s still a discussion going on about the ‘inconsistency’,” Lewis said.
“A lot of former players have said that just because we went past a couple of players doesn’t mean we can’t elect them as the next one and the name that consistently comes to the fore is Norm Provan.
“They say he’s a guy who won so many premierships as a player with the Dragons when they won 11 straight, then he went on to coach and grab premierships.
“And he’s a guy who’s one of rugby league’s best promotional tools. He’s on the trophy as the big man standing alongside a very small man on the football field being friends after full-time.
“He’s always promoted rugby league in the best possible way, so I think we’ve got to also remind those that make the selections that just because they’ve gone past them to elect somebody else doesn’t mean that their name can’t be considered once again.”
It’ll be a long time before he’s actually retired. — Wally Lewis