Say what you want about Gorden Tallis.

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But if you were going to war, the “Raging Bull” is still a bloke I’d want on my side.

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In fact, Wayne Bennett tells a terrific story about the time he made Tallis his new Broncos captain after a pre-season army camp back in 2001.

And that story came charging back into my mind on Wednesday night as I sat at home watching NRL 360, as Tallis this time went toe-to-toe with The Courier Mail’s Peter “Bomber” Badel.

In case you missed it, the blow-up (and it was a beauty) was over Tallis’ comments about Adam Reynolds’ latest injury made on Triple M over the weekend.

Tallis had labelled it “not great optics” that Reynolds travelled to Sydney to commentate on Fox League last Friday night.

Tallis was critical that Reynolds made the trip less than 24 hours after suffering the rib injury against Parramatta _ that has now ruled Reynolds out of the grand final rematch against Melbourne this Friday night.

And while Tallis initially copped a bit of a bucketing on social media for his comments over the weekend, the pile-on went nuclear on Wednesday night when Tallis doubled down as he sat there trading shots with Badel.

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Michael Maguire fired back at Gorden Tallis this week.Source: News Corp Australia

From Reynolds to Michael Maguire, the fiery debate went back and forth.

With Badel at one point telling Tallis he was “wrong” because Maguire and the Broncos’ physio had told him “flying is immaterial”, because “it’s not a soft tissue injury”.

But as the argument rolled on, you could see the Raging Bull get angrier and angrier, until it got to the point where he told Badel: “Don’t come here with Madge’s s***, come here with your own original ideas”.

At that point I just sat back and laughed.

You just knew from the moment Gordie opened his mouth that he was going to come off second best in this one when it came to the social media popularity stakes.

But I still couldn’t help but admire him for having the balls to stand up for his mate regardless.

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We all know Tallis and Maguire have had a running feud ever since Maguire replaced Kevin Walters as the Broncos coach.

Yet what is not as well-known is what sparked Tallis’ animosity in the first place.

It wasn’t simply about Maguire taking Walters’ job.

It’s the way Tallis believes it unfolded, with the former Broncos captain convinced Maguire allegedly undermined his great mate to get the position.

It should also be pointed out that Maguire has denied this to Tallis, and he even attempted to calm the situation at the grand final a couple of years back when the two crossed paths.

But Tallis didn’t want a bar of it then, and to this day he has not changed his mind.

Rightly or wrongly, no one on this planet will ever convince him otherwise.

Just as winning last year’s premiership will not convince Tallis that Maguire is a better coach than Walters.

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While I totally understand how the Broncos and their fans can get upset at the continued animosity, I also admire Tallis for having the courage to stand by the same principles that made him such a warrior on the field.

It’s the type of mate we’d all like to have beside us in the trenches.

You don’t have to agree with Tallis, but no one can deny he has earned the right to say whatever the bloody hell he wants about the Broncos.

There is no player in the club’s history who played harder or tougher for that jersey than Tallis did.

Gorden Tallis and close friend, former Broncos coach Kevin Walters.Source: Supplied

And if Tallis reckons Reynolds should have stayed at home to give himself his best opportunity to recover from his injury to play in the grand final rematch, he is only talking as he would have done as the leader of the Broncos.

Yes, at times his criticism of his former club does get too personal, and there is no doubt he can let his emotions and passion get the better of him.

But would you rather a former player-turned-commentator speak from the heart and say the truth as he sees it?

Or would you rather Tallis sat on the fence and did not offer his true feelings because he might upset a few people, and cop a bagging on social media for his troubles?

“THERE’S YOUR CAPTAIN”

It brings us back to the Bennett captaincy story.

Bennett took the Broncos away on a pre-season army camp following Walters’ retirement when the squad was split into four groups with Tallis, Darren Lockyer, Petero Civoniceva and Shane Webcke identified as potential captains.

And after being pushed to their physical and mental exhaustion, the group leaders were called in and told by the commandos that down the bottom of the mountain was a cottage where woman and children were being beaten and abused.

As Bennett told me some years later, the group leaders were warned that under no circumstances were they to advance until reinforcements arrived.

All the leaders did exactly what the commandos told them to do — except Tallis.

Instead, the Raging Bull went back to his group and told them what was going on down the bottom of the hill.

At which point Tallis picked up his gear and started marching towards the hostages to take them back by force.

That’s when the army commando looked at Bennett and said: “There’s your captain. A leader knows when to follow instructions, and when to ignore them.”