Broncos great Gorden Tallis has revealed the real reason for his once-bitter feud with Wayne Bennett, saying he told the supercoach to “f*** off” during a confrontation over a newspaper column.
While it’s long been thought that the relationship nosedived when Bennett benched Tallis for a semi-final against the Cowboys in 2004, which proved to be his last game, ‘The Raging Bull’ said he had fallen out with his coach the following year over the sacking of several assistants.
Bennett axed Kevin Walters, Glenn Lazarus and Gary Belcher from his coaching staff after the 2005 season following a straight-sets finals exit. Tallis criticised the move in a Courier Mail column and Bennett wasn’t happy.
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“What fractured my relationship with Wayne, right, was when he sacked ‘Kevvie’, ‘Lazzo’ and Gary Belcher,” Tallis told Walters on the Inside Ball podcast.
“I wrote an article about it. He (Bennett) fronted me and I told him to f*** off.
“That’s what fractured it … not me sitting on the sideline.”
Tallis explained what had happened with the 2004 Cowboys final, which was nonetheless a dramatic Broncos moment.
Senior players wanted Tallis to start the game, adamant that he was the side’s leader.
Tallis says Bennett played cloak and dagger with his intentions — before benching him on game day when it was too late for a blow-up.
“We didn’t have enough oomph off the bench,” Tallis recalled.
“So Wayne said in the Tuesday meeting with the senior guys, ‘I might start Gordie off the bench because we need something coming off the bench’, and I had played that role.
“The best part was Mick de Vere and Shane Webcke said, ‘He’s our leader, he starts’. I remember those words.
“I thought Wayne would start Sam Thaiday, a Townsville boy, and Neville Costigan was on the bench, so we had some young kids who were a bit mad. I said to Wayne, ‘Throw them in and I will wind them up’, because we only needed them to go for 10 minutes.”
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Tallis thought that had fixed it. One day before the game, thought he was starting — until Walter called him.
“He says, ‘Mate you are going to start off the bench’,” Tallis recalled.
“I said, ‘Nah, we (Bennett and Tallis) have sorted it out. He says, ‘No, you are starting off the bench’. I said, ‘Mate, I’ve spoken to Wayne and I’m starting’.
“Then we go for the team walk on the day of the game. Wayne goes, ‘I’m going to start you off the bench’, but he knew as soon as we got around the team, there wouldn’t be a confrontation, because the team comes first.”
The Cowboys won 10-0 and Tallis suffered an inglorious end to his NRL career, riding the pine for his goodbye having previously captained Queensland and Australia.
Bennett had a last laugh of sorts two years later, winning another premiership with the Broncos in 2006 after the coaching clean-out that angered Tallis.
Bennett and Tallis’ relationship is believed to have thawed, but was icy for nearly 20 years.
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