{"id":712038,"date":"2026-06-03T06:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/712038\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T06:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:50:12","slug":"nrlw-2026-ali-briginshaw-resigns-as-brisbane-broncos-captain-addresses-gorden-tallis-snub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/712038\/","title":{"rendered":"NRLW 2026: Ali Briginshaw resigns as Brisbane Broncos captain, addresses Gorden Tallis snub"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Ali Brigginshaw addressed media at Broncos<\/a> headquarters on Wednesday to call time on her incredible reign as the club\u2019s NRLW<\/a> captain, one question got her tearing up.<\/p>\n

It was a question about her father Larry, a legendary Easts Tigers halfback who captained the club to a premiership in Brisbane in 1983.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ali Brigginshaw and her Broncos teammates celebrate winning the 2025 NRLW premiership.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is very proud,\u201d Brigginshaw said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he doesn\u2019t want me to finish playing. I feel like that\u2019ll be a lost era for the family, knowing that we won\u2019t really have those games to go to anymore with rugby league,\u201d she added, fighting off tears.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I did call him this morning after the decision, and he\u2019s always proud of me.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously he didn\u2019t wear a Broncos jersey, but he wore a No.7 jersey and he captained the side. I\u2019m really proud to follow in his footsteps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brigginshaw has skippered the Broncos ever since the NRLW launched in 2018. She was Brisbane\u2019s sole captain for six years and co-captained the team with star fullback Tamika Upton in 2025.<\/p>\n

As a revered leader and champion halfback, Brigginshaw steered the Broncos to four premierships, most recently in 2025.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old\u2019s ninth season in the NRLW will be her last.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been thinking for the last couple of months, and the time is right,\u201d she said of her resignation as captain. \u201cDone so many amazing things here, but there\u2019s the next group of leaders where I want them to come through, and I want to be able to support them in my last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked which players were ready to lead the Broncos forward, Brigginshaw spoke highly of Upton, Chelsea Lenarduzzi and Romy Teitzel, and noted the club\u2019s emerging leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll still be able to do a lot of things for the team, but I\u2019m looking forward to just supporting the next group,\u201d Brigginshaw said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s young leaders coming through, but we also have some of the best leaders in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brigginshaw addresses awkward Tallis call<\/p>\n

Brigginshaw was also asked about the Broncos\u2019 contentious decision to wipe out club legend Gorden Tallis<\/a> and rename a conference room in honour of her.<\/p>\n

The bombshell decision followed repeated attacks Tallis had launched on the Broncos and coach Michael Maguire.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve been here for a very long time, and I\u2019ve worked in community the whole time I\u2019ve been here, so I deserve what that room is and what it\u2019s about,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d spoken to [Broncos CEO] Dave Donaghy about that, and he congratulated me on what I\u2019ve been able to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a one-club player and it\u2019s something that I\u2019m proud to say that I am. I\u2019m very loyal to this club, and always will be.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t have anything between me and Gordie; it was just Dave thought that I was the right fit moving forward, and being a female player, I think we do deserve a room here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NRLW season will kick off with a clash between Cronulla and Newcastle on Thursday, July 2.<\/p>\n

The Broncos will get their title defence under way against the Cowboys at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday, July 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Ali Brigginshaw addressed media at Broncos headquarters on Wednesday to call time on her incredible reign as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-712038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=712038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}