Supercoach wants to have his say on entry to league’s highest honour Bennett’s Immortal plea
ATTENTION NRL, Wayne Bennett is expecting your phone call.
Bennett cares deeply about the Immortals concept having previously been a judge, but he is yet to hear from anyone at rugby league HQ.
It comes as the NRL is set unveil a working committee for the Immortals in the new year after taking ownership of the concept from Rugby League Week magazine.
Bennett would like to play a role on the committee, but he hasn’t heard from the NRL.
“But I’d like to be involved, because no one has coached MANCHESTER United came from two goals down yesterday to rescue a dramatic 2- 2 draw against Burnley thanks to Jesse Lingard’s double, while Tottenham striker Harry Kane shattered a Premier League record with a hat- trick in a 5- 2 rout of Southampton.
Ashley Barnes and Steven Defour gave Burnley a twogoal lead, before replacement Lingard gave United hope with a sublime back- flicked finish from Ashley Young’s cross in the 53rd minute.
And Lingard finished as United’s hero when he fired into the bottom corner in the first minute of stoppage- time.
“The end product of so much dominance, two goals, is a miserable number,” United manager Jose Mourinho said.
At Wembley, Kane established a record for the most Premier League goals in a year and will finish as Europe’s leading scorer for 2017.
Kane’s 22nd- minute header was his 37th goal of the year, moving him past Alan Shearer’s previous Premier League record, which was set when he played for Blackburn in 1995.
But Kane wasn’t happy to settle for that milestone and he scored twice more to claim his eighth treble of the year.
His second goal took him to 55 for club and country in 2017, lifting him above Barcelona’s Lionel Messi to become Europe’s topscorer over the past year in the five major countries. longer than I have,” Bennett told the Bulletin.
“There are also very few administrators out there that have been around longer than I have.
“My point is, I go back a fair way so when we go back to talk about the past players at least I’ve got some content and knowledge in my head about who were and weren’t the great players.
“I’d also like there to be a more consistent approach to the Immortals.
“There should be an Immortal every two years and get some better rules around it all – you can’t just wake up one morning and think we are going to have an Immortals meeting.”
Bennett says he is determined to see the right players chosen, including previously snubbed champions like Mal Meninga and Norm Provan.
Andrew Johns was the last Immortal inductee in 2012 ahead of some of the game’s greatest names.
Bennett, though, would like to see the Immortals revisit past players like Provan and Meninga.
“If you have to go back 30 years, then you go back 30 years,” he said.
“If that isn’t the consensus and opinion of everyone in the meeting, then that is fine.
“That said, why can’t Norm Provan be an Immortal?
“But there should have been a better plan. The game should have taken over the concept years ago.
“But it’s not Rugby League Week’s fault, I’m not blaming them as they did a great job, but the game never supported them to make it a prestigious thing.
“So here we are five years since Johns was made an Immortal and we are missing generations of players.”
There have also been calls for current stars such as Johnathan Thurston and Cameron Smith to become Immortals while they are playing.
Under the old rules governed by RLW, a player had to be retired for at least five years before they could be considered for league’s elite group.
Bennett agrees, saying a player should be judged when they hang up the boots.
“We need to have rules and standards,” he said.
“Johnathan Thurston will be an Immortal. I know that and you know that, but he has got to wait his time.
“I don’t see why they have to be an Immortal while they are playing.
“Being an Immortal is for when you are finished and there should be at least a twoyear wait.”