Rugby League: Tallis plans to smash and grab

By PETER JESSUP

Gorden Tallis is the one player New Zealand supporters love to hate.

Partly it's the bulging eyes and the arguing with the ref, but mostly it's the way he throws opposing players aside and keeps charging forward, passes a good off-load - and smashes anyone who tries to do the same to him.

Tallis carries the dual nicknames "Gordy", reflecting his nice-guy side, and "Bull", the perfect description of the way he plays rugby league.

New Zealand fans do not like the barging runs, the fact that he always makes ground, and the way he drags in multiple tacklers and still has to be wrestled to the ground.

But any fan of the game has to admire the skill of Gorden Tallis; any critic has to name him in a "super 13".

So it is a worry when Tallis says there is no way he wants to be remembered as the only Kangaroo captain in recent history to lose to New Zealand.

He may only get to lead the side once, he says, the appointment coming after regular Andrew Johns was ruled out through injury.

"Obviously I'm going to take the opportunity."

Tallis was born and bred in Townsville, son of Wally, a refrigerator mechanic turned panelbeater, and Judith, who worked at the local hospital for 20-plus years.

School was "like driving backstreets without a directory" and league offered a living.

His older brother Wally had been trialled by the Brisbane Broncos, but missed out.

Gorden's parents paid for his trip south to Sydney to trial for the St George Dragons, and he was determined to try harder.

The Dragons signed him when he had just turned 19.

He played 54 games for St George until 1996, when (league) war broke out.

Tallis had been a bench player for the Dragons and after meeting Australian Rugby League negotiator Phil Gould, he decided he did not want to stick with that administration. Gould told him he was not worth what he wanted, given that he was only a bench player.

Tallis signed with the Super League-aligned Broncos, wanting to get back closer to home. He had to sit out 1996 after the Australian High Court ruled against the News Ltd-sponsored backdoor deals.

But since then it has been all honour and glory: three grand final wins, with the Broncos in Super League in 1997 and in the reunited competition in 1998 and 2000; State of Origin series wins; the World Cup triumph in 2000.

Tallis is now 27, with 175 premiership games and 13 tests behind him. He is supremely honoured by the captaincy despite the fact that he is the 13th Australian captain from Queensland and the superstition that led him to shun the No 13 jersey after a serious neck problem was revealed when he was dumped in a tackle while wearing it last season.

Tallis showed an uncanny courage to come back from that and has been Broncos leader this season as coach Wayne Bennett recognised he was maturing - he was as forceful but not as abusive to referees; aggressive as ever but not to the point of giving away penalties.

Tallis sees his role as maintaining the aggression levels, leading by example, smashing the opposing forwards and getting quick play-the-ball return to get his team on a roll.

He has always rated the Warriors' forwards as among the hardest in the game in terms of smash-and-bash, and knows he will face a Warrior-dominated pack tomorrow night.

He aims to "play good and make sure everyone's settled". Yet Tallis has frequently been the most unsettled player on football fields.

He has been warned for dissension, and he let fly at top whistler Bill Harrigan after the Broncos were eliminated from the NRL playoffs this season.

But he reckons he is over that and there will be none tomorrow night. He has toned down his reaction to referees - no swearing now.

His driving force is to play well himself. If he does, he feels he will have led the team well.

"Sure there's more responsibility, making the new guys feel at home and part of the team."

But the only thing he will find different at the Cake Tin in Wellington is leading the team out of the tunnel, he says. And he won't talk to the referee unless he has to.