Wayne Bennett’s Secret Meeting To End Gorden Tallis & Bill Harrigan Feud | “We Had Tea & Scones”

Legendary referee Bill Harrigan joined The Rush Hour with Gus, Jude & Wendell for the latest episode of Hero, Highlight & Hardship.

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The polarising whistleblower had a famous rivalry with Brisbane Broncos and Triple M’s own Gorden Tallis, capped off by Harrigan sending off The Raging Bull in Game 1 of 2000’s State of Origin after he had called Bill “a cheat.”

Harrigan explained that a secret meeting was brokered by a concerned Wayne Bennett, Broncos coach at the time.

He was desperate to get Bill and Gordie on better terms, as the Brisbane outfit were always challenging for silverware, and Harrigan was officiating the code’s biggest matches.

“There were issues between us when we went out on the field,” said Harrigan.

“Went from Broncos matches to Test matches.”

So, Bennett stepped in, the meeting organised at… Harrigan’s parents home.

“Gordie got a taxi to my Mum and Dad’s at Bronte.

“We had tea and scones.

“And we mended our ways.”

This meeting was kept from the public, from the media.

The only people that knew were the people involved and the referee’s boss at the time.

But all was revealed when both Harrigan and Tallis published their respective autobiographies in 2003.