Gorden Tallis

Hard-running forward came to St George from Townsville in 1992. 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 but the Dragons declined the offer and subsequent court action held him to his original contract. Having already signed a Super League contract to play with Brisbane the fiery North Queensland forward chose to sit out the season rather than play a final year with St George. Tallis returned to the game in 1997 and was the most dominant forward in the Super League competition, which culminated in Brisbane’s crushing 26-8 win over Cronulla 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 in the club’s 38-12 grand final win over C’bury. 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 an 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 NZ 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) certainly did. Following Australia’s World Cup victory Tallis captained a rookie Queensland team in the 34-16 win over NSW in the opening State of Origin match in 2001. Soon after, he suffered a career-threatening neck injury in a match against the N’Eagles which revealed a spinal condition that required corrective surgery. While Tallis’ season was over (despite the smokescreen of his being named 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 NSW 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 record 64-10 win over Great Britain in July and was then named Test captain (in Johns’ absence) for the one-off Test against NZ in October, which Australia won 32-24. At the end of 2003 he announced his retirement from representative football. In 2004 Tallis started to feel the effects of his neck injury and took heed of the warning signs his body was emitting and retired for good after the Broncos’ 10-0 loss to the North Queensland in the semi-final – ironically, played in Townsville, where the career of the champion forward started all those years ago. Tallis was nominated to the NRL Board in January 2005. Autobiography, Raging Bull (2003).