Ninth Immortal to be named this year

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg has confirmed that a ninth Immortal will be chosen in 2018.

Newcastle Knights halfback Andrew Johns is the most recent inductee to the illustrious group of players, named as an Immortal back in 2012.

"We made a conscious decision last year to purchase the IP rights [from Rugby League Week magazine] for the Immortals," Greenberg said at The Courier-Mail NRL season launch.

"The Commission felt for a long time that it wasn't under our banner and it should be, it now is. We will have a very diligent process around our Hall of Fame and ultimately on the election of an Immortal and you can stand by for some big announcements on that in the coming month.

"But rest assured, there will be an election of an Immortal in 2018 and there will be a much greater diligent process about how that is unfolding. And a much more transparent process primarily for fans so they have an understanding of how we're going to do this, but it's a very big decision for the game."

The Immortals concept was established in 1981 when the first four players were inducted as the nation's greatest ever.

Since then, four more players have been added with two in 1999, one 2003 and then Johns joining the group in 2012.

The Immortals