Beetson the Seventh Immortal

Queensland rugby league legend Arthur Beetson has been inducted as the sport's Seventh Immortal.

One of the greatest attacking forwards the game has produced, Beetson played three games for Queensland - including the first Origin game - and 14 Tests for Australia.

He's best remembered for being plucked out of reserve grade with Parramatta to captain the Maroons in the inaugural Origin clash in 1980, leading his home state to a 20-10 victory.

He joins Clive Churchill, Reg Gasnier, John Raper, Bob Fulton, Graeme Langlands and Wally Lewis. The former Test and Queensland captain was named for the honour in Sydney tonight as part of the Footy Show Awards.

Ian Heads was Rugby League Week editor when he conceived the idea of Rugby League Immortals 22 years ago. Heads was also part of the panel that chose Beetson as the Seventh Immortal ahead of players such as Mal Meninga, Ken Irvine, Steve Rogers and Peter Sterling.

The other panel members were current RLW editor Martin Lenehan, Norman Tasker, Ray Warren, David Middleton and Geoff Prenter.