Gorden Tallis

  • Playing Career

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Full Name
Gorden James Tallis
Nickname(s)
The Raging Bull
Born
Friday, 27th July, 1973
Current Age
51 years and 132 days
Place Of Birth
Townsville, Queensland, Australia

Honours & Awards

Based only on data available in the RLP database. This information should be used as a guide only.

World Cup
2000
Test Series
Great Britain vs Australia SL 1997
Anzac Tests
1999, 2000
State of Origin
1998, 1999, 2001, 2002
Super League/NRL Premiership
1997, 1998, 2000
Clive Churchill Medal
1998
Dally M Second Rower Of The Year
1999
National Rugby League Hall Of Fame
2018

Biography

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).
- ALAN WHITICKER

Playing Career Statistics

All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.

To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.

Competitions

Competition   Comp Wins App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Anzac Tests 2 2 1 -   - 4 2 0 0 100.00% List
World Cup 1 5 1 -   - 4 5 0 0 100.00% List
Tour Matches Australia - 1 2 -   - 8 1 0 0 100.00% List
Test Series 1 3 - -   - - 2 1 0 66.67% List
State of Origin 4 17 4 -   - 16 5 10 2 29.41% List
NSWRL/ARL/Super League/NRL Premiership 3 214 66 1   - 266 138 67 9 64.49% List
NSWRL/ARL/Super League/NRL Finals - 19 6 -   - 24 11 8 0 57.89% List
World Club Challenge - 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
Challenge Cup AU - 2 1 -   - 4 1 1 0 50.00% List


International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia (SL) 1997   3 - -   - - 2 1 0 66.67% List
Australia 1998-00, 2002-03   13 9 -   - 36 13 0 0 100.00% List
Overall1997-2003   16 9 0   0 36 15 1 0 93.75% List

World Cup Matches - By Team

Team Years   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1998-2000   5 1 -   - 4 5 0 0 100.00% List


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
QLD 1994, 1998-03   17 4 -   - 16 5 10 2 29.41% List
QLD (SL) 1997   3 - -   - - 1 2 0 33.33% List
Overall1994-2003   20 4 0   0 16 6 12 2 30.00% List


Club Career

NSWRL/ARL/Super League/NRL Premiership - By Year

Team Season   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
St George NSWRL 1992 Winfield Cup   1 - -   - - 1 0 0 100.00% List
St George NSWRL 1993 Winfield Cup   15 1 -   - 4 12 3 0 80.00% List
St George NSWRL 1994 Winfield Cup   17 4 1 / 1 100.00% - 18 7 10 0 41.18% List
St George ARL 1995 Winfield Cup   21 12 0 / 2 0.00% - 48 12 9 0 57.14% List
Brisbane Super League 1997 Telstra Cup   19 3 -   - 12 15 3 1 78.95% List
Brisbane 1998 NRL Premiership   25 8 -   - 32 19 5 1 76.00% List
Brisbane 1999 NRL Premiership   20 7 -   - 28 8 10 2 40.00% List
Brisbane 2000 NRL Telstra Premiership   23 9 -   - 36 18 3 2 78.26% List
Brisbane 2001 NRL Telstra Premiership   10 3 -   - 12 7 2 1 70.00% List
Brisbane 2002 NRL Telstra Premiership   24 10 -   - 40 15 8 1 62.50% List
Brisbane 2003 NRL Telstra Premiership   18 4 -   - 16 11 7 0 61.11% List
Brisbane 2004 NRL Telstra Premiership   21 5 -   - 20 13 7 1 61.90% List

NSWRL/ARL/Super League/NRL Premiership - By Team

Team Years   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
St George 1992-95   54 17 1 / 3 33.33% - 70 32 22 0 59.26% List
Brisbane 1997-04   160 49 -   - 196 106 45 9 66.25% List
Overall1992-2004   214 66 1 / 3 33.33% 0 266 138 67 9 64.49% List

Your Say

  • Anonymous
    26/10/2012

    Most damaging (and therefore valuable) forward of the 1990s/2000s.

  • Chris
    21/05/2021

    Good player very aggressive seems to intimidate work colleagues on fox

  • Richard
    17/09/2021

    Tallis lassos hodgsen. Tallis ow Tallis

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Contributions: Rugby League Tables, Greg Fiveash, Andrew Ferguson, Shawn Dollin, Paul Carter, AJ Lucantonio, Alan Katzmann, Bill Bates, Terry Liberopoulos, Cymru RL

Sources: David Middleton's Rugby League Yearbook (1987-88 to present)