MAL Meninga, Darren Lockyer, Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston.

The modern masters will have their time but changes to the way the NRL inducts new members into the realm of Immortal status has opened the door for the game’s founding fathers to receive their due recognition.

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg unveiled on Monday a more co-ordinated approach to recognising the game’s greats made possible by the NRL’s acquisition of the Immortals concept instigated by Rugby League Week magazine.

The original guidelines stated that only post-1946 players would be considered but changes to the criteria has created the opportunity to go back all the way to 1908, the NRL to add either one or two to the eight existing Immortal inductees.

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Few players have a CV to compare with that of Mal Meninga but the current Kangaroos coach is adamant that if two new Immortals are to be inducted in 2018, two of rugby league’s most influential figures in the early years deserve careful consideration.

WHO SHOULD BE THE NEXT IMMORTAL? Scroll down to vote.

“Frank (Burge) and Dally M (Messenger) were part of the Team of the Century in 2008 so I think they need to be duly recognised in this process as well,” said Meninga.

All Immortals must first be members of the Hall of Fame, the first 100 inductees of which will be the 100 greatest players named in 2008 in addition to six new inductees this year.

All members of the Hall of Fame must be retired for a period of five years to be eligible, meaning the likes of Thurston and Smith will have to bide their time until their likely elevation.

Here are eight contenders who could be the next two rugby league Immortals.

DALLY MESSENGER

The first code-hopper who brought instant credibility to the fledgling game of rugby league in Australia, few can lay claim to impacting the game in the same manner as Dally Messenger.

JJ Giltinan and legendary Australian cricketer Victor Trumper pinned the hoped-for success of this new sport on the signature of Messenger who was considered the finest football player in the country just after the turn of the 20th century.

They visited his house in Double Bay and endeavoured to win the support of his mother, Annie. Get that, and Dally would follow.

Get him they did for the princely sum of 180 pounds and Australia had its first professional rugby league player.

He would play just 48 games for Eastern Suburbs across six years — scoring 21 tries, kicking 150 goals and eight field goals in 38 wins — and represent NSW Firsts on 26 occasions but it was that initial off-field influence that would cement his legacy for all time.

“Dally has obviously got to come into calculations,” said fellow worthy Immortal contender Mal Meninga.

“He was an important figure for the start of our game. He played rugby union, played for the Wallabies and was captain and he was the catalyst for more players to come and play our game.

“He is immortalised already, we call it the Dally M (medal) which is the greatest personal achievement you can have in a single year.”

FRANK BURGE

Some players transcend their position with their deeds and one of the game’s pioneers, Frank Burge, certainly did that.

Another rugby union convert, Burge made his first grade rugby league debut for Glebe in 1911 at just 16 years of age and would go on to score 148 tries in 153 games, finishing his playing career as captain-coach of St George in 1927.

In consecutive years in 1915 and 1916 Burge scored 22 tries in just 14 games for Glebe, a mark he better in 1918 with 24 tries in 14 games.

Selected on the bench in the Kangaroos Team of the Century, Burge created a record that may never be broken when he scored eight tries in a single game against University in 1920.

”He didn’t play many games but again, instrumental in those early years,” Meninga said of Burge’s contribution.

“He was a front rower or second rower, played for Glebe for a number of games and scored that many tries it wasn’t funny.

“He played 13 Tests for Australia, captained Australia as well.”

KEN IRVINE

The greatest tryscorer in premiership history, Ken Irvine was a sprint champion who transferred his speed to the rugby league field and displayed an uncanny knack for finding his way to the tryline.

A winger in the Kangaroos Team of the Century who sadly passed away at just 50 years of age in 1990, Irvine scored 212 tries in 242 games for North Sydney and Manly across 16 seasons from 1958-1973, his exploits in finding the line carrying through to the representative arena.

Irvine scored 31 tries in 33 Tests for the Kangaroos and still heads the try-scoring list for New South Wales with 30 in 24 appearances for his state.

Such was the fascination in Irvine’s pure speed he held the world professional record for 100 yards in 1960 and was pitted against a horse called ‘Gili’ in a match race.

NORM PROVAN

He’s virtually been immortalised by the fact that he’s on the premiership trophy.

Provan played 15 seasons for St George from 1951-65, and won an incredible 10 grand finals, the last four as captain-coach.

He played 18 Tests for Australia and 20 matches for NSW.

“He was a part of 10 premierships. We all like to win one. He won 10 as a player,” Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett said of Provan this week.

“Our premiership trophy is named after him and Arthur Summons ... I don’t know what more you have to do to become an Immortal.

“He epitomises what the game’s about to me and he can’t get a look in.”

Matty Johns agrees Provan should be the next inducted.

“Norm Provan without a doubt,” Johns told Triple M’s Grill Team.

“There’s no one who has done more in the game than Norm Provan. He deserves it, he absolutely deserves it.”

The argument against Provan is he’s already been overlooked eight times for the Immortal nod.

There’s already been eight players judged to be more worthy of the gong than him, and now he’s been retired for 53 years.

Still, you can’t argue his record or his standing in the game.

DARREN LOCKYER

He’s one of the only players in the game to have comprehensively mastered two positions across a 17-year career, having won three Dally M positional awards each at both five-eighth and fullback.

The Brisbane legend once held the record for the most NRL games (355), and still remains the most capped Kangaroo of all time (59).

Lockyer also played 36 Origins with Queensland, and has four premierships to his name.

He wasn’t considered when the last Immortals inductee was named due to the five-year retirement rule, but there’s no doubt he’ll be a top contender this time around.

“Locky dominated at fullback and five-eighth for the Broncos, Queensland and Australia,” Broncos legend Steve Renouf recently penned in a column for NRL.com.

“I can’t begin to describe how hard that is to do, and he did it with ease. It would be comparable to Wally Lewis playing fullback and being a superstar there as well.”

But Matty Johns feels Lockyer can wait his turn, although agreeing he deserves to one day be an Immortal.

“His time will come,” Johns said of Lockyer.

MAL MENINGA

Where do you start with someone like Meninga?

A three-time premiership winning captain at Canberra, Meninga has achieved almost every accolade in the game.

The hard running centre is the only player to have played on four Kangaroos Tours, having notched up a total of 46 Tests for Australia along the way.

He also played in 32 Origins for Queensland, and was named in the Australia team of the century in 2008.

“As a footballer, Mal was a giant, quick and strong,” Renouf wrote in his NRL.com column.

“He was big enough to bowl people over and he had good hands. He was unselfish. That is why a lot of wingers scored tries outside him. Mal had the whole skill set. He was very smart with everything he did

“I really can’t believe he hasn’t been made an Immortal already. I recently learned Mal played 519 games for his club and representative sides, and he was out of action for 18 months with two broken arms. That’s two or three careers worth of games for most people.”

Many believe Meninga’s Origin coaching record with Queensland — nine series wins from 10 attempts — should be taken into account.

But as it stands, contenders are only judged on their on-field performance.

A tweak in the criteria could change this, however.

RON COOTE

As a player, Coote was known as the “Prince of Locks”, behind “King of Locks” and original Immortal, John Raper.

One of the game’s greatest forwards, Coote won four titles with South Sydney and two more for Easts.

He played 257 first grade games in total and represented NSW on 15 occasions and played 23 Tests for Australia.

Coote was named in the back row in the Australia team of the century in 2008.

“I don’t know how Ronnie and Norm Provan aren’t Immortals to be quite honest,” Rabbitohs legend George Piggins once said.

“It doesn’t make sense to me.”

BRAD FITTLER

A true great of the game, Fittler won six positional Dally M Awards across three different positions, his best being five-eighth. He also won the Golden Boot in 2000.

With a killer step and plenty of flare, Freddy was a delight to watch in action.

He won two premierships, first at Penrith in 1991 and then at the Roosters in 2002.

But he could find it difficult to sneak in front of the likes of Meninga and Lockyer this time around when it comes to the Immortals discussion.

“He’s not far from it, not far from it,” Matty Johns said on The Grill Team.

“When you pause at Brad Fittler and say ‘maybe not’, it shows how many good players there are.”

Other contenders: Mick Cronin, Laurie Daley, Brett Kenny, Allan Langer, Glenn Lazarus, Steve Mortimer, Steve Rogers, Peter Sterling, Shane Webcke.

WHO SHOULD BE THE NEXT IMMORTALS INDUCTEE?

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