All good things come to those who wait 43 years at South Sydney …. from premierships, to rugby league Immortality.
Ron Coote, one of the Rabbitohs finest players, was finally made an Immortal on Wednesday night.
Among the greatest locks in the game’s history, Coote played in nine grand finals and won six premierships. He played for NSW and captained Australia.
Four of those club titles came at South Sydney.
It was Coote’s exit for the riches of the Eastern Suburbs in 1971 that coincided with the end of the Rabbitohs’ run of success, and kickstarted the longest dry spell in the club’s history.
For 43 years, Souths fans were forced to wait for another title in 2014, in what remains the longest gap between two premierships for a club in NRL history.
Coote, too, also had to his own waiting to do.
The 79-year-old was first eligible for Immortal status when the award was launched with four inaugural inductees by the Rugby League Week magazine in 1981.
He was overlooked for John Raper, who at the time was considered by judged to be the greatest lock in the post-war era.
Graeme Langlands was long considered an Immortal in waiting, and he and Wally Lewis were brought in ahead of Coote in 1999.
Then came Arthur Beetson in 2003, Andrew Johns in 2012 and the glut of pre-war players in 2018 alongside Norm Provan and Mal Meninga.
All the while, Coote has done his own thing.
The former Rabbitohs’ star became a McDonald’s franchisee, launched the Men of League (now Family of League) charity and had trophies named after him.
In the past week, the Immortal chat had become hard for Coote to ignore, told repeatedly by all and sundry that he was a chance to finally be added.
Hope had started to be lost.
“I’ve been going every year they’ve done it, been on the list, and never made it,” Coote told AAP on his arrival at the SCG.
“I’m used to that feeling.
“If I get it, I say, ‘thank you very much’. But if I don’t, rugby league has been great to me and I think I’ve been good to rugby league.”
Perhaps fittingly, after 43 years, Coote’s wait came to an emotional and tearful end on Wednesday night, named as league’s 14th Immortal.
“It’s got to sink in, I’m not sure how it goes,” Coote said afterwards.
“I feel really proud that I am up there with the 13 best players who have played. I am really proud about that.
“I thought this was not going to happen. This time it has come through.
“Everyone was telling me it was going to happen. But I wasn’t sure. I wait for things to happen before I sit down and enjoy it.”
Coote’s ascension to Immortal status comes ahead of the likes of Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Darren Lockyer and Allan Langer.
For most of those, Coote was a player they only heard about and never saw.
A player from their parents’ generation, or in the case of Smith, his father’s favourite.
“When you listen to people talk about his career, they say he was just a phenomenal player,” Smith said before Wednesday’s ceremony.
“My dad used to talk about him, and he was my dad’s favourite player growing up.
“If Ronny got the nod as Immortal, I’d be happy and the old man would as well. He’d be happy to see Ron get it (over me).”
Wednesday night felt like a case of now or never for Coote in terms of rugby league Immortality.
It’s unlikely Smith will have to wait anywhere near as long.
The NRL are scheduled to announce the next Immortal as soon as 2028, and Smith will be the early favourite.
