Gorden Tallis

At 51 years old, Gorden Tallis has this physical status:

Gorden James Tallis (born 27 July 1973) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s.

A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative second-row forward, he captained both these teams as well as the Brisbane Broncos with whom he won the 1997, 1998 and 2000 Grand Finals, after starting his career with the St. George Dragons in Sydney.

Nicknamed the "Raging Bull" for his on-field aggression, at the peak of his career Tallis was considered as the best second-row forward in the world and in 2008 was named in an Indigenous Australian rugby league team of the century.

He is currently a commentator and pundit for the Fox Sports network.

He served as a National Rugby League board member and was a member of the board of directors for the North Queensland Cowboys.

Tallis also worked on the coaching staff of the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

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Professional playing career

Tallis made his first grade debut in the Winfield Cup premiership for St. George on August 29, 1992, aged 19. In St George's 1993 grand final loss to Brisbane, he was a reserve. Tallis played a bad name off the interchange bench during the 1994 season and made his official debut for the Queensland side in the final two State of Origin series games of the year. He was in the Tongan squad for the 1995 World Cup in 1995, but he had to pull due to injury.

Tallis decided to buy out the remaining year of his deal with St George in order to join the Broncos when the planned Super League games were suspended in 1995. However, the Dragons turned down the bid, and a subsequent court hearing ruled he was held to his original deal. The fiery North Queenslander, who had already signed a Super League deal to play with Brisbane, caused uproar when he was the only player to opt out of the 1996 season rather than playing a final year with St George. He left Sydney after making 54 appearances for the Dragons.

Tallis returned to the game with the Broncos in 1997 and was the most consistent forward in the tournament, winning by 26–8 over the Cronulla Sharks in the Telstra Cup grand final. He made his international debut in the 1997 post-season Super League Test series against Great Britain, playing at second-row forward in all three matches, in addition to representing Queensland in the Super League Tri-series competition.

Tallis returned to St. George for the first time since his tumultuous break with the Saints, was pelted with garbage and insults, and was booed each time he touched the ball before his victory, 30–18. Brisbane went on to win their second premiership with Tallis scoring a try and winning the coveted Clive Churchill Medal as the best and fairest player on-field in the club's 38-08 1998 NRL grand final victory over the Canterbury Bulldogs. Tallis made his Australian Kangaroos Test debut in the second match of the Trans-Tasman series.

He maintained his exceptional personal appearance when selected for the ANZAC Test in 1999 and spearheaded Queensland's State of Origin campaign in a historic tie series. However, the season came to an end, with Brisbane's inability to defend its premiership, and Tallis was ruled out of the Tri-Nations competition in October due to injury.

In Australia's 52–0 thrashing of New Zealand in the ANZAC Test, Matthew Wilfred was sent off in the first State of Origin match for verbally insulting referee Bill Harrigan, but Tallis' ignominy of a whitewash loss was a momentary lapse in logic that may have indirectly contributed to the Blues' 56–16 victory. Tallis' reputation as the game's most dominant forward after Brisbane's 14–6 victory over the Roosters in the 2000 NRL grand final, and his four attempts in Australia's 82–0 humiliation of Papua New Guinea before the 2000 World Cup, which resulted in a historic victory of 110–4 victory) were both impressive, as his four tries in Australia's 82–0 humiliation (which resulted in a historic victory) did not if Tallis was also awarded the Australian Sports Medal in 2000. Tallis and teammate Shane Webcke wrote an open letter to players demanding an end to the scandalous conduct amongst footballers, which had been tarnishing the sport.

The Broncos travelled to England to compete against 2000's Super League V Champions, St Helens R.F.C., after winning the 2000 NRL Premiership. Tallis, the newly appointed captain of Brisbane, plays in the second row in the 2001 World Cup Challenge. Tallis captained a new Queensland team in the 34-16 victory over New South Wales in the first match of the 2001 State of Origin series, and was named man-of-the-match. In a club match against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, he sustained a neck injury that required corrective surgery shortly after. Tallis' season ended (despite the fact that his name on the Broncos' interchange bench for the club's preliminary final) was on display), but he made a good return to football in 2002. In the deciding match of the 2002 State of Origin series, Gorden Tallis delivered a dramatic tackle on Blues fullback Brett Hodgson, dragging him several meters and eventually dragging him out of the field of play like a rag-doll. Tallis' reaction later after the one-finger salute to a portion of the audience, right behind Dane Carlaw's series-tying attempt was scored, became a major post-match talking point. Tallis gained some sympathy when it was revealed that he was protesting an offensive sign regarding his mother. Many people have doubted whether Brad Fittler will return to captain Australia, but many have questioned his potential to lead Australia. In the July Test against Great Britain, Johns was chosen to lead the Kangaroos just days later. Tallis scored a try in Australia's 64–10 victory in that season, and was later named Test leader (in Johns' absence) for the one-off Test against New Zealand, which Australia later won 32–24.

Tallis' book Raging Bull was released in January 2003. Many questions regarding Tallis' ancestry and ethnicity have been raised. Tallis addresses these questions in his book;

"People ask me about my ethnic origins." In their "true" Indigenous and Aboriginal perspectives, journalists select me. I haven't been too worried about it to be honest. My great-grandfather was from North Western Ambrym in Vanuatu, and my great-grandmother was from Loh Island in the Torres Strait, according to my auntie. We were all told in my family that we were Australians. My dad was born in Townsville and his dad was born in Bowen, so that makes us Australian and we're proud of it. I have participated in one Indigenous group, the Redfern All Blacks, who won the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tournament in 1992. That was some of the sides. We had Choc Mundine, who was about 17, Tricky Trindall, 25, and Wes Patten, 19. People may have gotten a glimpse of me in the tournament, but to me, it was just a chance to play some footy with my mates."

Tallis, who was supposed to lead Australia on the 2003 Kangaroo tour, resigned from representative football but continued playing with the Broncos at the end of 2003. He began to be bothered by his neck injury in 2004 and took note of the warning signs his body was emitting. He appeared in his last official game for the Brisbane Broncos in 2004, right in his hometown of Townsville, where the Cowboys lost to the Cowboys. At the time of his release, he held the Broncos' club record for most tries for a forward.

The Broncos revealed a list of the top 20 best players to play for them to date, which included Tallis, during the 2007 season.

Tallis was inducted into the Broncos official Hall of Fame in 2010.

Post-football career

Tallis was appointed as one of News Ltd's NRL board in 2005, replacing John Brass but resigned from his position in 2008 amid rumors that he will join the Catalan Dragons' teaching staff. He served as a director on the board of the North Queensland Cowboys, a position he had to relinquish as a forwards coach. Russell Crowe brought him in to contribute his experience and aggression to the team. Tallis writes columns for newspapers as well as providing Fox Sports' games. Tallis has stated his views on rugby broadcasting, saying that if a fight breaks, "he will run in, you will run in, we'll all run in because it's your mate being bashed."

Since it was announced that South Sydney Rabbitohs head coach John Lang would be retiring, Wigan Warriors head coach Michael Maguire said that Tallis' services as forwards coach were no longer needed during the 2010 NRL season.

Tallis' "Kimoji" was immortalized in 2016 in the same vein as his contemporary Kim Kardashian's "Kimoji." The iPhone app was designed by Devotion Digital in Sydney and has plans to launch an Android version later this year.

Tallis was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2018.

Tallis called on the NRL to relocate Sydney teams in August 2019 and called "Embarrassing" at Sydney games. Tallis continued to say, "Could the NRL put in some key success metrics to move one of the Sydney teams?" says Tallis. “It's got to go on bringing a stadium to a bursting point,” says the singer. People who want to watch your brand, your brand, and your profile, need to pay to see your brand, your style of football, the Roosters are at the top of the table, and they count their followers with a fork to get their numbers up, because "everyone who watches a game of footy is embarrassed."

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