NRL star Matt Lodge confronts Gorden Tallis over calls he should NEVER captain the Brisbane Broncos

Footy bad boy Matt Lodge confronts NRL legend Gorden Tallis over calls he should NEVER be a captain after his drunken New York rampage attack

• Matt Lodge told Gorden Tallis to call out his captaincy to his face at a function 
• Tallis has been critical of his leadership credentials after three clubs sacked him
• He was also charged with assault after attacking a stranger in New York in 2015 
• Tallis didn’t back down saying there are few genuine leaders in the modern game

By Jackson Barron For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 05:03 GMT, 10 March 2020 | Updated: 10:17 GMT, 10 March 2020

NRL bad boy Matt Lodge confronted Gorden Tallis after the legend said Lodge should never captain the Brisbane Broncos.

Lodge, 24, approached the Broncos legend at an event in Rockhampton on February 14 and called him out for his dismissal of Lodge’s captaincy ambitions.

Tallis has been scathing of Lodge’s leadership credentials following a violent home invasion carried out by Lodge in New York in 2015, after which he was arrested at gunpoint.

Lodge approached Tallis at the function – but he refused to back down.

NRL bad boy Matt Lodge (pictured with a friend) confronted Gorden Tallis over calls that he should never captain the Brisbane Broncos

Tallis (pictured) has been scathing of Lodge’s leadership credentials following a violent home invasion carried out by Lodge in New York in 2015 

‘It was very civil. It wasn’t like we were ever going to come to fisticuffs,’ Tallis told Fox Sports.

‘He said to me: ‘why don’t you say it to my face?’ So I did.’

Tallis spoke out against all NRL clubs claiming that there are a lack of genuine leaders in the modern game. 

He singled out the Broncos who had struggled under Darius Boyd’s captaincy in recent years and had Lodge in their leadership group ahead of the 2020 season.

The former Broncos, Queensland and Australia captain said the Broncos have failed to develop young players to flourish in leadership roles.

‘It’s a proud club with a rich history but this shows lately they’ve had an inability to develop leaders,’ he said.

The Broncos honour role of former captains includes NRL legends like Wally Lewis, Allan Langer and Darren Lockyer, with Tallis claiming the Broncos deserve better than appointing Lodge as captain.

‘Our game is about redemption and I get everybody deserves a second chance,’ Tallis told The Courier-Mail.

Lodge training with the Broncos in 2019. Tallis claimed the Broncos have failed to develop their young players into becoming great leaders at the club

‘With Matthew Lodge, OK, he has come back to play our game. I thought the Broncos brand was bigger than that.

‘We used to sack players like him, now we are signing players like that.’

Lodge avoided jail time for his drunken rampage in New York where he chased two women into an apartment building before punching Joseph Cartright who tried to help them while his his partner Ruth Fowler and nine-year-old son hid.

He was accused of telling the women ‘this is the night that you die’.

Lodge was sentenced to community service and treatment for anger and alcohol abuse, before Mr Cartright and Ms Fowler launched a civil lawsuit against him.

He was ordered to pay them $1.6million.

Lodge also has domestic violence charges against him from August 2015.

The NRL Integrity Unit controversially allowed Lodge to return to the game in 2018, where he signed with the Broncos.

The Broncos announced Kiwi international Alex Glenn as captain for the upcoming season, while Lodge tore his ACL in training and will miss the start of the season with injury.

Lodge tore his ACL during preseason and will miss the start of the 2020 season for the Broncos

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