Auckland Brisbane Canberra Canterbury Melbourne Newcastle Nthn Eagles Nth Queensland Parramatta Penrith Sharks South Sydney St Geo Illa. Brisbane officials last night moved to allay fears Gorden Tallis would not be able to make a successful comeback from season-ending spinal surgery. The Australian vice-captain sent shock waves through the game when he was ruled out for the rest of the year with a similar congenital problem to that which ended the career of St George Illawarra captain Nathan Brown earlier this season. Not only was Tallis born with a narrowing of the spinal column, like good friend Brown, but he has a bulging disc which is restricting the movement of his spinal chord and which surgeon Geoff Askin will this morning remove. But Broncos chief executive Shane Edwards insisted talk of Tallis's career being in jeopardy was baseless.
People hear one thing and pass it on, and before long it becomes fact.
Our chief medical officer, Peter Friis, is very conservative and he is confident that Gorden will be back next year. That is what he says and that is what the specialists say. There would be no rhyme or reason to us coming out and saying something that wasn't the case. It was tough on Friday hearing the news that I'd not be able to play. But I've taken a positive out of it.