Brent Tate (born 3 March 1982) is an Australian former professional
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
footballer who played as a or er in the 2000s and 2010s. An
Australia international and
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
State of Origin representative, he played his club football in the
NRL
The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
for the
Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...
(with whom he won the
2006 NRL Premiership), the
New Zealand Warriors
The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...
and the
North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL).
Sinc ...
. Despite a career that was set back by a series of severe injuries, Tate kept coming back and was a member of the
2006
2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
Events
January
* January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute.
* January 12 – A stampede during t ...
,
2007
2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year.
Events
January
* January 1
**Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
,
2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
,
2012
2012 was designated as:
*International Year of Cooperatives
*International Year of Sustainable Energy for All
Events January
*January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins.
* January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
and
2013 State of Origin series-winning Queensland sides, as well as the
2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
and
2013 World Cup Australian sides, winning the 2013 edition with them.
Early life
Tate was born in
Roma, Queensland and moved to
Redcliffe at the age of 9. He played his junior rugby league for the
Redcliffe Dolphins
Redcliffe Dolphins are a semi-professional rugby league club based in Redcliffe, Queensland, Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1947, they were accepted into the Brisbane Rugby League premiership (rugby league competition), Brisbane R ...
and attended
Clontarf Beach State High School, where he represented the
Australian Schoolboys in 1999. He was originally a scholarship holder with the
South Queensland Crushers, signing with the
Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...
after the Crushers folded.
Professional playing career
Brisbane Broncos
Tate made his
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...
debut for the
Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...
in Round 21 of the
2001 season, in a match against the
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...
at the
Colonial Stadium. He earned his first representative honours in 2002, playing for
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
in Game 3 of the
2002 State of Origin series. On 12 July 2002, Tate made his international debut for Australia from the bench in a one-off test against
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
at the
Sydney Football Stadium, with the Kangaroos running out easy 64-10 winners, scoring 11 tries to 2 in their biggest winning margin over the Lions. He was named the
2002 Brisbane Broncos season's rookie of the year after scoring 10 tries in 23 games. Tate made his run-on debut for Australia in the end of season
Test match against
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
at the
Westpac Stadium in
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
.
Tate continued his good form in 2003, moving into the Queensland starting side for all 3
State of Origin games, scoring 2 tries in Game 3. He was again selected for Australia in the
Anzac Test against New Zealand in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, scoring two tries as Australia defeated the Kiwis 48–6. However, Tate suffered a career-threatening neck injury that has affected him ever since, and his career has only been prolonged with the aid of a special
neck brace. His neck injury kept him out of the beginning of the
2004 season, but recovered in time for the Anzac Test, and continued to earn representative selection for both Queensland and Australia.
2005
2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
was a disappointing season for Tate, with further injuries preventing him from playing in the
2005 State of Origin series. Despite this, his form for the Broncos saw him selected for in the Australian team for the end of season
Tri-Nations tournament against New Zealand and hosts Great Britain.
In
2006
2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
Events
January
* January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute.
* January 12 – A stampede during t ...
, Tate was again injured for the first part of the season, but made a shock comeback in Game 1 of the
State of Origin. In Game 3 in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
, Tate scored a crucial try, beginning a Queensland comeback that led to them winning the match and the series. For the first time in his Origin career, he was named man-of-the-match for Game 3.
Tate was also an integral part of the Brisbane Broncos'
2006 NRL Grand Final-winning team that year, once again being rewarded with national selection for the
2006 Tri-Nations. In the final against defending champions New Zealand at the Sydney Football Stadium, Australia had a hard-fought 16–12 win in extra time, again thanks to a try to captain Darren Lockyer. Playing on the wing, Tate scored Australia's only other try for the game. As 2006 NRL Premiers, the
Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...
travelled to England to face 2006
Super League
Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...
champions,
St Helens R.F.C. in the
2007 World Club Challenge. Tate played at centre in the Broncos' 14–18 loss.
On 30 May 2007, it was announced that Tate would be leaving the Broncos at the end of the
2007 season to sign with the
New Zealand Warriors
The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...
on a three-year contract.
He decided to join the Warriors due to the opportunity to play in his preferred position of centre.
Tate was selected to play for the
Australian national team on the wing in the
2007 ANZAC Test match against New Zealand, scoring a
try in the Kangaroos' 30–6 victory.
His career with the Broncos was cut short while playing for Queensland during Game III of the
2007 State of Origin series, where he suffered a season-ending knee injury to the
medial and
anterior cruciate ligament
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...
.
New Zealand Warriors
Tate made his New Zealand Warriors debut in Round 1, 2008 against the
Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...
at
Telstra Dome
Docklands Stadium, known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the suburb of Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 1997 and was completed ...
, against the same team and at the same stadium in which he made his NRL debut for Brisbane.
In August 2008, Tate was named in the
Australia training squad for the
2008 Rugby League World Cup,
and in October 2008 he was selected in the final 24-man
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
squad.
However, due to injury he did not play in the final of the World Cup, with the Kangaroos going to lose the final to New Zealand 20–34, giving the Kiwi's their first ever World Cup win.
In September 2008, Tate was named on the bench in the
Australian Schoolboys Team of the Century.
Tate's
2009 season was cut short, when in a Round 3 clash against his former club Brisbane, he suffered another season-ending injury when he damaged his anterior cruciate ligament in the process of being tackled.
He returned to the field in
2010
The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
, and with injuries early in the season to
Steve Price,
Simon Mannering and
Micheal Luck, Tate stood-in as
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
of the Warriors. The Warriors won their first game under Tate's captaincy, a 30–24 win in Round 5 over
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...
at the
ANZ Stadium in Sydney. However, they were defeated 40–12 in their next game against
Penrith at home at
Mt Smart.
On 23 June 2010, Tate announced that his three-year stay at the New Zealand side was over, opting to return to his home state of Queensland to play for the
North Queensland Cowboys
The North Queensland Cowboys is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Townsville, the largest city in North Queensland. They compete in Australia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL).
Sinc ...
. Tate cited the decision as the "toughest he has ever had to make".
At the end of the 2010 season, Tate was again selected for Australia's
Four Nations campaign (the tournament had been expanded to include a fourth team in
2009
2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
). Tate, who as of 2013 played his last game for Australia in the final (in which he scored a try), was the tournaments equal leading try scorer with 4 alongside
Junior Sa'u (NZ) and
Tony Clubb (
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
). Tate had scored a try in each game he played against
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
, England and NZ.
North Queensland Cowboys
Tate's first season with the North Queensland outfit in
2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
, was disrupted by the rupturing of his
anterior cruciate ligament
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...
(ACL) in the Four Nations Final the previous November. The injury forced him to undergo a knee reconstruction for the third time in his career. The injury caused him to consider retirement; however, he recovered to make his debut for North Queensland in round 19 of the 2011 season, and played in the team's qualifying final loss to the
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League sea ...
.
Tate continued to play for Queensland in the
2012 State of Origin series, helping the Maroons to a record-breaking 7th series win in a row dating back to 2006.
Tate was selected on the wing for Qld in the opening game of the
2013 Origin series. Despite the Maroons going down 14–6 to NSW in Sydney, he retained his spot for Game 2 of the series in Brisbane. Tate was named man-of-the-match in Queensland's win in the third and deciding game of the series, which extended their record winning streak to eight series.
Tate continued playing for Queensland in the
2014 State of Origin series
Fourteen or 14 may refer to:
* 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15
* one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014
Music
* 14th (band), a British electronic music duo
* ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013
*''14'', an un ...
. During the 2nd game of the State of Origin series, Tate suffered another ACL knee injury.
On 3 September 2014, Tate announced his retirement from Rugby League after accepting medical advice that returning from the ruptured ACL sustained during that year's State of Origin series was one fight too many.
Post playing
In 2015, Tate became an NRL community ambassador after his retirement in 2014. Tate also released his autobiography ''Iron Will the same year.''
In 2016, Tate was appointed to the Touch Football Australia board.
In 2019, Tate was part of a Old Boys match against the Townsville Blackhawks.
Since 2015, he has worked as a commentator for
Fox Sports
Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...
and a business development manager for the North Queensland Cowboys. He also released an autobiography in 2015.
Personal life
Tate is the brother-in-law of
Steve Price, with whom he played for the Warriors, Queensland and Australia, and the uncle of
Giants Netball player
Jamie-Lee Price and current
Penrith Panthers
The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...
player
Riley Price.
References
External links
NRL profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tate, Brent
1982 births
Living people
21st-century Australian sportsmen
Australia national rugby league team players
Australian rugby league players
Australian rugby league commentators
Brisbane Broncos players
New Zealand Warriors captains
New Zealand Warriors players
North Queensland Cowboys players
NRL All Stars players
People from Roma, Queensland
Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players
Redcliffe Dolphins players
Rugby league centres
Rugby league players from Queensland
Rugby league wingers
Toowoomba Clydesdales players