Gorden Tallis

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**Gorden James Tallis**
Personal information
Date of birth	27 July 1973
Place of birth	Townsville, Australia
Height	6 ft 2 in (189 cm)
Nickname	Raging Bull, GT
Position	Second row
Youth clubs
1980-1991	Centrals Tigers, Townsville
Professional clubs*
1992-1995 1997-2004	St George Dragons Brisbane Broncos	30 (17) 169 (55)
National team
1998-2003	Australia	8 (8)
* Professional club appearances and (tries) counted for the domestic league only.

Gorden James Tallis (born July 27, 1973 in Townsville, Queensland) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played from 1992 to 2004. He captained Australia, Queensland and the Brisbane Broncos and is a Clive Churchill Medallist. At the peak of his career he was renowned as the best second-row forward in the world.

[edit] Playing career

Australia 1998-03: 8 Tests – 8t (32pts)
Australia (SL) 1997: 3 Tests (0pts)
Queensland (SOO) 1994-03: 17 games – 4t (16pts)
Queensland (SL Tri-Series) 1997: 3 games (0pts)
Brisbane 1997-04: 158 games – 49t (196pts)
St George 1992-95: 54 games - 17t, 1g (70pts)

Nicknamed the "Raging Bull" for his fearless running game, Tallis came from Townsville, North Queensland to make his first grade debut for St. George on August 29, 1992. He was a reserve in St George’s grand final loss to Brisbane in 1993. Tallis was used to good effect off the interchange bench during the 1994 season and represented Queensland in the final two State of Origin matches.

When the proposed Super League competition was put on hold in 1995, Tallis offered to buy out the final year of his contract with St George in order to join the Broncos. The Dragons declined the offer however, and subsequent court action held him to his original contract. Having already signed a Super League contract to play with Brisbane, the fiery North Queenslander caused controversy when he was the only player who chose to sit out the season rather than play a final year with St George.

Australian national rugby league team captain

After 54 appearances for the Dragons, Tallis returned to the game in 1997 with the Broncos and was the most dominant forward in the Super League competition, which culminated in Brisbane’s crushing 26-8 win over the Cronulla Sharks in the Telstra Cup grand final. After representing Queensland in the Tri-Series competition, he made his international debut in three Super League Tests against Great Britain.

The enforcer of the champion Broncos pack in 1997-98, he used his giant frame to terrorise opposing players in both attack and defence – and he wasn’t afraid to mix it with opponents when called upon. In 1998 Tallis captured another premiership with the Broncos and won the prestigious Clive Churchill Medal as best and fairest player in the club’s 38-12 grand final win over the Canterbury Bulldogs. Tallis celebrated a remarkable year by making his Australian Test debut in the second match of the Trans-Tasman series.

He continued his great personal form when chosen for the ANZAC Test in 1999 and spearheaded Queensland’s State of Origin campaign in a historic tied series. However, the season ended with Brisbane’s failure to defend its premiership and Tallis was ruled out of October’s Tri-Nations competition because of injury.

2000 saw him score a try in Australia’s 52-0 thrashing of New Zealand in the ANZAC Test, but after being sent off in the opening State of Origin match for verbally abusing referee Bill Harrigan, Tallis suffered the ignominy of a whitewash defeat (his public admission that the ‘dead’ third match of the series should be cancelled was a momentary lapse in judgment that may have indirectly contributed to the Blues’ record 56-16 win). If Tallis’ stature as the most dominant forward in the game wasn’t secure following Brisbane’s 14-6 win over the Roosters in the 2000 grand final, his four tries in Australia’s 82-0 humiliation of Papua New Guinea before the 2000 World Cup and his selection as Australian captain for the match against Russia (which resulted in a record 110-4 victory) did. In 2000 Gorden also received the Australian Sports Medal.

Following Australia’s World Cup victory, Tallis captained a rookie Queensland team in the 34-16 win over New South Wales in the opening State of Origin match in 2001. Soon after, he suffered a career-threatening neck injury in a match against the Manly Sea Eagles which revealed a spinal condition that required corrective surgery.

While Tallis’ season was over (despite the smokescreen of his naming on the Broncos’ interchange bench for the club’s preliminary final) he made a strong return to football in 2002. That year he was fired up by the taunts of the New South Wales crowd in the deciding State of Origin match in Sydney and inspired Queensland to a series draw after losing the opening match of the series.

Despite losing the Australian captaincy to Andrew Johns in 2002, Tallis scored a try in Australia’s 64-10 win over Great Britain in July and was then named Test leader (in Johns’ absence) for the one-off Test against New Zealand in October, which Australia won 32-24.

At the end of 2003, he announced his retirement from representative football, but continued playing with the Broncos. In 2004 Tallis started to feel the effects of his neck injury and took heed of the warning signs his body was emitting. He played his last official match in the 2004 semi-final for the Brisbane Broncos, fittingly in his hometown of Townsville, against the Cowboys, which the Broncos lost.

[edit] Post-football Career

Since retiring from the game, Tallis has been appointed as News Ltd's member on the NRL board [1].

Preceded by Kevin Walters 1999-2000	Captain Brisbane Broncos rugby league 2001-2004	Succeeded by Darren Lockyer 2005-present

[edit] External links

Brisbane Broncos
The Club Representatives • History • Records • Honours • Players • Venues
Seasons 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007
Stadiums Lang Park/Suncorp Stadium • ANZ Stadium
Captains Wally Lewis (1988-1989) • Gene Miles (1990-1991) • Allan Langer (1992-1999) Kevin Walters (1999-2000) • Gorden Tallis (2001-2004) • Darren Lockyer (2005-present)
Coaches Wayne Bennett (1988-present)