Ron Coote has been inducted as rugby league's 14th Immortal during the NRL's 2024 Hall of Fame Ceremony in Sydney on Wednesday evening.
Coote joins a list which also features Clive Churchill, Bob Fulton, Reg Gasnier, Johnny Raper, Graeme Langlands, Wally Lewis, Arthur Beetson, Andrew Johns, Dave Brown, Frank Burge, Mal Meninga, Dally Messenger and Norm Provan in what is rugby league's most exclusive club.
A trailblazer of the game, the former South Sydney Rabbitohs and Sydney Roosters star played 257 top grade games between 1964 and 1978.
Beginning his career with the Rabbitohs in 1964, Coote played the first 148 games of his career at South Sydney, making his debut for New South Wales in what was then the Interstate Challenge just a year later.
He switched to the Roosters in 1972, eventually hanging up the boots after another 109 games in 1978.
He played his first Test for the Kangaroos in 1967, and would go on to play 15 games for the state, and 23 Tests for the Kangaroos.
A clearly emotional Coote at the Hall of Fame ceremony said it was an emotional moment.
"I'm a bit taken for words at the moment. I never thought I'd be crying when I was 80, but I am. To me, it's just sensational. I never thought it would happen. I've been at this function a few times, but this time I got the gong," Coote said on stage.
Of his 23 Tests, Coote captained the country three times, with the lock and second-rower also being a six time premiership winner in 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1974 and 1975. He was the four-time NSWRL player of the year in 1969, 1970, 1975 and, in 1977 just a year before he retired.
Coote was also the man of the grand final in 1971, was named to the Australian Rugby League Team of the Century in 2008, the New South Wales Team of the Century in the same years, and was named at number 23 in Rugby League Week's Top 100 players in 1992.
Under new rules introduced by the NRL this year, one Immortal will be named every four years, with the next player upgraded to the exclusive club due to be named in 2028.
