" 'CHANG' will get your vote, won't he?" the Herald asked one of the judges charged with the responsibility of picking league's Australian team of the century.

"Is the Pope a Catholic?" he replied, before adding: "You'd better not print that. We've only just started the process of picking the best 100 players, let alone the best team."

Don't worry, you're not telling us any real secrets. It would only be a shock if Graeme Langlands, one of the game's Immortals, was not included in the best team that will be named as part of league's extensive celebrations to mark its centenary next year.

But just where would you put him? The St George star was a great fullback or centre, but if you put him at fullback, then what do you do with Clive Churchill? And what if Andrew Johns is halfback and Wally Lewis five-eighth? Does that mean the versatile Bob Fulton being included in the centres, with Reg Gasnier?

It's too hard already, so let's leave it to the judges … for now. We'll all have our say, along the way. Langlands, who was a guest at yesterday's launch in Sydney of the centenary year, had no doubt about how difficult a process picking the team would be.

"I don't know how they're going to do it," he said. "It's going to be hard. The selectors are going to have to consider a lot of players they never saw play because it was so long ago, and that's got to be difficult. Plus, you've to weigh up players who played in different eras and under different rules. It'll be interesting to see how they go about it."

But whatever line-up the judges settle on, you know it can't help but be fabulous. And who wouldn't want to be a part of it? Asked how he would feel if named, Langlands replied: "It would be a great honour."

If the launch was a guide to how the centenary celebrations will go, the game is in for a great 2008. It was a terrific occasion, marked by re-enactments, using actors, of meetings that led to the formation of the NSWRL and the luring of Dally Messenger from rugby union to league.

The re-enactment scripts were written by veteran journalist, author and historian Ian Heads, who is part of a committee plotting the game's celebration schedule. Heads has a lifelong love of the game and his feeling for it came out in his faithful re-creation of events that used J. J. Giltinan, Henry Hoyle, the great cricketer of the time, Victor Trumper, and Messenger as central figures.

"It's a pleasure and a privilege to be involved in this," Heads told the Herald. "I was a fan of the game before I became a journalist and started covering games back in 1963. I remember sitting in the old press box at Cumberland Oval, which had a bullet hole in the glass. I don't know what happened there.

"It means a hell of a lot to me to be involved in the centenary planning and it's very important to all of us on the committee that we get it right. After all, you only get one crack at a centenary."

Just how big an occasion it was for the game yesterday became clear when former league boss John Quayle appeared. Quayle and Ken Arthurson, who was also there, led the fight for the ARL in the Super League war and left league management once it was over. Yesterday was the first time Quayle had attended a league function since.

"They have never forgotten us, they were wonderful to keep inviting us to functions," Quayle said. "I've been overseas a lot and many times I wasn't here [to attend functions]. It was great to be acknowledged, but, yes, it was also important for me to move on.

"But league has been my life and that doesn't change. You don't lose the time that I came through as a player and then to be able to administrate at a time of great change. I was always passionate about the history of the game, but it reminded me today about how it all started."

It was announced that the celebrations would include a fan day at Telstra Stadium on February 2, at which all 16 NRL clubs would be represented by 400 players.

"I'm sure the fans will flock to that one," said ARL chairman Colin Love. "Who knows, we might fill the stadium. How good would that be?"

CENTENARY YEAR CELEBRATIONS

February 2: Fan day at Telstra Stadium featuring all 16 clubs and 400 players.

March-July: Centenary Cup. A grassroots knockout competition to find the best bush footy team in Australia.

March 5: Season launch of the 2008 premiership.

March 7: Opening of the Treasures of the Game exhibition at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra.

March 14-17: Round 1 of the premiership.

April 16: Captains' Table- Centenary Ball in Sydney. Team of the Century named.

April 18-21: Anniversary of the first premiership round. Each team will play in heritage jerseys.

May 9: Centenary Test at the SCG to mark the first Test between Australia and New Zealand in 1908. Both teams will wear heritage jerseys.

May 21: State of Origin I at Telstra Stadium. Both teams will wear heritage jerseys. NSW Team of the Century named.

August 27: Anniversary of the first premiership final in 1908 - Easts v Souths.

October 5: Grand final at Telstra Stadium.

October 25-November 22: The Centenary World Cup. Final at Suncorp Stadium. Ten nations will compete.