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ALONG with my wife, Gorden Tallis is the most honest human being I know.
His honesty can cause plenty of drama and controversy, but he simply can't help it.
Last Sunday, Gorden had no intention of landing Robbie Farah in the predicament he did, by telling the world that 15 months earlier, Robbie had told Gorden that Mick Potter can't coach. But when Gordon's credibility and integrity was questioned, all bets were off.
Everyone who's ever played with or against Tallis knows that if you back him into a corner, there's going to be carnage.
And carnage there was.
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Suddenly the Potter-Wests Tigers story went atomic!
Seconds after Gorden made the comments you could feel the fallout.
Outraged Tigers fans, at our Live Triple M broadcast, screamed support for Potter.
The phone lines jammed, the Twitter world erupted, the emails poured in and all the while Gordon sat there, stony faced.
FARAH IN COLD WAR WITH TIGERS MANAGEMENT
EMOTIONAL FARAH 'IN A DARK PLACE'
The very same stony face he held way back before exploding into a flurry of punches on the chin of Wigan front-rower Terry O'Connor.
And yes, the same stony-faced look when young Penrith prop, Ben Ross, challenged him back in the day as well. We all remember how that ended.
Ben Ross knows what it's like to be on the receiving end from Gorden Tallis. Source: News Corp Australia
As we went into an ad break Gorden sat there quietly, most probably contemplating how and why he got drawn into fighting Potter's battle.
Suddenly he told us why. "I hate seeing people bullied, particularly those who can't defend themselves."
Gorden has known Potter for a long time. Gorden was a young teenage back-rower, trying to find his feet at St George when Mick Potter was the Dally M-winning veteran fullback there.
Gorden tells me Potter is a very good man, as the Americans would say, "A stand-up guy."
He tells me there's no bullshit, no agendas, he's a very simple straight-up man.
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In the coaching world, things are very complex, NRL coaches survive not just on success but on allies as well.
Some coaches have friends in very high places, others know how to use the press.
NO ONE CALLS ME A LIAR, SAYS GORDIE
TIGERS IN DAMAGE CONTROL OVER POT SHOTS
When times are tough, they use these alliances to gain advantage, enable them to survive or to put a positive spin on a miserable season.
Potter is no such coach, and so as you can imagine, last Sunday Potter appeared very much out on his own.
When he walked into ANZ Stadium last Sunday, Potter was not only being eaten alive by club politics, but he didn't have a friend in the world ... until Tallis stepped forward.
Mick Potter had few people in his corner until Gorden Tallis spoke up. Source: News Corp Australia
When it comes to this sort of thing Tallis has form.
In 2004 I was up in Townsville for what would be Gorden's last ever game of rugby league. The Broncos were playing the Cowboys in a semi-final which the Cowboys would win.
I was working with Channel 9 at the time and always on the lookout for good stories and insights into the players for the coverage of the match.
With Townsville being Gorden's home town there were plenty of stories about him being passed on.
A bloodied Tallis leaves the field after a fight with Wigan's Terry O'Connor in 1997. Source: News Corp Australia
One really struck me: it was the day Gorden was almost expelled from high school.
Gordon was a student in Year 7, and while not a brilliant student, he was well-behaved and tried hard.
However one lunchtime Gorden's parents were shocked to receive a phone call informing them that Gorden was likely to be expelled for beating up a fellow student.
They were told, while the student was several years older than Gorden, the behaviour was unacceptable and would not be tolerated.
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By the time Gorden's parents reached the school, expulsion was no longer an issue, as the full story had been revealed.
A young crippled boy at the school had been getting teased and bullied by a couple of the older boys.
Young Tallis, the son of local legend Wally Tallis, was not known as a fighter, but suddenly something in him snapped.
Gorden grabbed the chief bully and unleashed fury. He hit the older, bigger boy hard, straight and often.
Wayne Bennett saw Gorden Tallis the worth of Tallis's passion and loyalty. Source: News Corp Australia
As Wayne Bennett would remark in an interview many years later, "Bloody Gorden, always sticking up for people."
As Paul Crawley wrote in Tuesday's Daily Telegraph, the way Gorden got the Broncos captaincy is legendary.
TALLIS: POTTER HAS EARNED HIS STRIPES
Wayne took the Broncos on a pre-season camp with Army Commandos, he split the squad into four groups, with each potential captain, Darren Lockyer, Petero Civoniceva, Shane Webcke and Gorden Tallis as group leaders.
From there the Brisbane players were dismantled, physically and mentally, through exhaustion and sleep deprivation. For the players, it was hard to work out what was reality and what was just a drill.
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Suddenly all four group leaders are called in and told, down the bottom of the mountain is a cottage, where a woman and children are being held, beaten and abused.
But the group leaders are told, under no circumstances are they to advance until reinforcements arrive.
All the four group leaders go back to their men and three of the leaders pass on the instructions perfectly.
Should Gorden Tallis have revealed Robbie Farah's comments?
Gorden, however, ignores instructions and instead, tells his men, "Pick up your packs, we're heading down to the cottage right now, going straight through the front door and taking it back by force."
The Army Commander approaches Wayne Bennett, points to Gorden and says, "There's your captain."
Robbie Farah is angry at Tallis repeating what were off-the-record comments more than 12 months ago. Source: Getty Images
Wayne, a little confused, said, "But he ignored instructions."
The Commander replied, "A leader knows when to follow instructions and when to ignore them."
Gorden has had plenty of support this week, but he's copped criticism as well.
Many believe he did the wrong thing, some of those are, like Gorden, former players, now in the media.
I guess that's what makes them themselves and what makes Gorden Gorden Tallis.
I know who I want to go into battle with.
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