The NRL will take over the Immortals concept after the closure of Rugby League Week magazine.
Rugby League Week, described as the bible for league lovers and a pillar of media coverage of the game since 1970, will publish its last issue this month due to low sales.
The NRL has bought the right to The Immortals, the game's highest individual honour, from Bauer Media, the publisher of the magazine.
"There is no higher honour in the game for a player than to be named an Immortal," NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg said.
"The fact that only eight players have been given the honour in the game's history demonstrates how rare that someone is declared an Immortal.
"There have been no players added to the Immortals list since 2012 but we plan to reinvigorate the award to recognise the very best our game has seen."
Clive Churchill, Bob Fulton, Reg Gasnier, and Johnny Raper were named the inaugural Immortals in 1981 and while the magazine had no official capacity, it came to represent the pinnacle of the game.
Graeme Langlands, Wally Lewis and Arthur Beetson were inducted into the famous club years later with Andrew Johns the latest recipient in 2012.
A double issue on March 27 will be Rugby League Week's final edition.
Staff were told of the decision by Bauer Media to shut down on Thursday.
"For more than four decades, Rugby League Week has been a prominent voice connecting the game of rugby league to its fans," Bauer chief executive Nick Chan said in a statement.
"While it's never an easy decision to close a brand with such a distinguished heritage, commercial realities and our focus on key consumer categories have led us to take this action."
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