Wallabies Hub Scoop: A Conversation with Halfback Tate McDermott

The second interview I got to do during the Wallabies hub was with one of my favourite players, Queensland co-captain, Tate McDermott. I had an awesome conversation about what the 2 day Wallabies hub had been like, it’s like working with Joe Schmitt. I also asked him some questions about the Reds super rugby season.

Every time I catch up with Tate, I get 1,000 reasons why Queensland rugby and yes, Australian rugby, is in good hands.

First of all, congratulations on recently becoming engaged!

Thank you very much! It worked out awesome, while Lucy and I were down in Tasmania, I popped the question and luckily enough, she said yes! 

How cool has it been, having the Wallabies hub up here at Ballymore?

Yeah, having the Wallabies hub down at Ballymore has been unreal. Obviously, we [the Reds] trained here the whole year so to have the Wallabies coming here and use our facilities, you know, it feels like another great step in the journey for us and to be at home makes it all the better. So slowly building, we haven’t gotten the results we wanted this year as a as the Wallabies, but we've done it a little bit differently this year where we haven't been in camp as such down at the Gold Coast or Sanctuary Cove where we usually are. We've split it up so we've had more time with our families… we did pre-season with the Reds last week and then trained first time with the Wallabies coaches Thursday and then today. So it's been really good.

What are some of the key things you've been working on with the wider squad?   

Well, the first week after the last Bledisloe, I just had a week off fully, just to get away from footy, reenergise and freshen up. That was kind of just a mental break that I thought I needed. But for me personally, I'm just working on my fitness. We did a 1.2 Test today, I thought I did all right. So I've been working on that and then just my skills. I want to get better at my passing and my kicking so that hopefully I can start to work my way back into that 9 jersey for the Wallabies.

What’s Joe like to work with?

Yeah, he's awesome. He's very different to a lot of the other coaches.  Him and Les have have worked together in the past, they've got similar mannerisms, but they see the game a little bit differently.  But I've enjoyed Joe's coaching.

He's huge on the fundamentals around your ball carry, your ball place and your general skill set and I think if we stay on his course, we're going to get a lot better. We've just got to be a little bit more consistent and the only way you can get the consistency of of your fundamentals is if you work really hard in these these blocks where there’s not games, because it's hard to grind away on your craft in a game week. So time off like this is is incredibly valuable. 

I’d love to talk about this years Super Rugby season, while I’ve got you.

It’s been a cracking year for the Reds. How do you feel the team has improved in 2024?

Yeah, I feel like we've just evolved, to be honest. We always had probably the right ingredients. We just could never put it all together on the day and sometimes we could and then the next week we couldn't.  And there was a couple of times we did that this year, but overall I thought we were a hell of a lot better.  The forwards improvement was was out of this world. The amount of rolling mall tries they scored, for example, three against Wales, it's incredible to see how those forwards coaches, Fish and Zane Hilton n particular, how much improvement they got out of the boys, because it was a relatively similar squad with the inclusion of guys like Guppy and also the big man Jeff. Yeah, so their experience around a younger group of forwards was invaluable for us. And yeah, it was awesome to have them with us. But yeah, I think the way that the backs stood up, guys like HMP and Tom Lynagh, they steered the boys around well. Hunter and Flooky had great seasons, Jock at the back was always solid.

And then also guys like Kalani [Thomas] and Louis [Werchon], to see them playing and playing well, particularly against the Kiwi sides, when I got red-carded, they were fantastic. So yeah, it's just great to see that in Queensland. We're a really healthy squad. We've got great depth and we've also got great coaches and are building to get better every day.

That does link to my next question, which was who's a young player that you want to shout out who are coming through and working hard this season?

I might lock in two. I reckon John Bryant's been brilliant and he's he's been rewarded with selection in this hub. Whether he comes on the Wallaby Spring Tour or he does the Reds Japanese games and then goes to play in the Aus A fixtures, I think it'll be a great reward for him because he's been putting his hand up week in, week out. He had a couple games off the bench, a couple of starts and he was solid as for us. So it's great to see him playing some footy and playing well too.

Catching up with Tate, circa 2019

And also his good mate, HMP [Harry McL-Phillips]. Two Souths boys and Harry played a little bit at the start and then had to go over and play all Aus 20s and then didn't play a hell of a lot when he came back.  But he's been rewarded in this camp as well and and he's been training really well. So I wouldn't be surprised if we see him in some sort of gold jersey as well, which is great to see. Those two young fellows are going to be, you know, corners of our future really.

What was your personal highlight of the Reds 2024 season?

Personal highlight… I reckon it was beating the Chiefs at Suncorp. That was brilliant. Particularly when the week before, we lost a couple of key players. We lost Jordy, he got knocked out cold, Hunter got injured, so we had guys stepping in.  But yeah, the way the team played, the way they defended at the end, yeah, that's why I love the Reds, that's why I love Queensland. It was awesome to see the home fans get a taste of that. If I played in that Crusaders game, I'd probably say that'd be close to rolling it. But I watched on the sidelines. I'd say that was one of the team highlights, that Crusaders game.

What’s the number one piece of advice you would have for young rugby players that are hoping to some day play rugby professionally, both boys and girls?

I reckon just be really clear on what you want to achieve. You know, if you have that goal at the top, whether it be Wallabies or Reds, you've just got to work out exactly what you want to be good at, what your point of difference is going to be and then how you're going to get good at those things. I think obviously you've got to probably sacrifice things here and there, it's a lot of hard work, but it's worth it for the reward you get at the end. So I think I think that would be my thing. Enjoy your footy and and work hard. 

Thanks, Tate for making time. I know it's been a very busy week.

No worries at all, thanks for having me. Legend.

The Reds Kick-off for an official capped game against the Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights in Kumagaya, on November 4. Tate and the Wallabies kick-off their spring tour of Europe soon after that on Novemeber 10th in London!

Living it up in Queensland: A Cool Conversation with Reds Winger Lachie Anderson

Several weeks back, after a tough training session at Ballymore, I met one of the new members of our team. I knew it was Lachie who’d recently come from the Rebels. I was super keen to organise an interview and welcome him to Brisbane!

Last week was a busier week at Ballymore than most. Players had travelled from around Australia to join Joe Schmidt and his coaching staff for what was termed the “Wallabies Hub”! Lachie Anderson was a part of the two day event, but still made time to catch up with me on Thursday. I hope you enjoy reading our chat….

Hey Lachie, I know you’ve been here a few months, but still I want to say welcome to Queensland! What are you loving most about being here? I know training just got a little bit hotter.

Thank you! Yeah, probably the sun. The weather up north is obviously a lot warmer. So it's good to good to get up here and get a bit more to the beach in the warmer climate… I missed that the last few years. A bit of vitamin D is good - and trying to work on the tan a bit (laughs).

What are you loving most about being around the crew here at Ballymore?

It's just a really good energy with the group at the moment. Like obviously we've got, you know, world class facilities. You've got a group of boys that have been together now for a couple of years, I think there's a strong culture in the locker room and there's a real good buzz about the place at the moment. I think the direction that rugby is going in Queensland is good at the moment. So I’m stoked to be a part of that and hopefully I can contribute both on and off the field into that kind of rugby landscape.

You’ve been training with the Wallabies at their “hub” at Ballymore this week. I was just watching you on field with some of the squad just earlier today. How has the experience been? 

Yeah, it's been awesome. You know, I think the more exposure you get to the programme and what they're doing up top, you give yourself the best chance to grow and get better, especially this time of year when you're not necessarily playing as many games, you know, it's awesome to test yourself in a different environment with different players. It's been a big couple days, but they're really enjoying it and I’m lucky to be doing it again here in Queensland at our new home. That's also been awesome.

So it’s starting to feel a little bit like home?

Yeah, it’s starting to feel like home now - we’ve moved into a house now - that definitely makes a big difference… when you're in your own place you can go back to, you're not living out of a suitcase and that sort of thing… I think that makes it a bit more homey and stuff. So that's made a big difference.

I’m glad you feel at home now. Who would you shout out from the Reds that’s been training hard in the lead up to the Japan tour?

Oooh, a shout out... I'll go big Ryan Smith.

He's just had his little one and he's functioning on about two hours sleep and training the house down. You wouldn't know that he's a new dad and barely sleeping. He’s been bringing the energy, so I'll give him a big dad shout out!

I love hearing about peoples rugby journeys. How old were you when you started playing?

I played my first game when I was four years old, I played in my brother's team, my dad was the coach in Sydney… I played in under sixes and then I've played every year since that.

I grew up in Sydney, played rugby all through school and then fortunately enough as a 17 year old I think, maybe 18, I got picked up with the rugby sevens guys and did a couple years travelling around with them. I loved my time there and travelled to some pretty cool parts of the world. And, you know, the Commonwealth games and the Olympic Games is pretty special and I transitioned from there to down to Melbourne. And again, I just loved my time down there and, you know, another different part of the world, another city and now my journey's taken me up here. So it's been good to kind of bounce up and down the coastline a bit and experience different cities. 

It's been a crazy journey up to this point, but I probably wouldn't change a thing. It's been awesome.

What was your favourite part of the experience of representing Australia at the Olympics in 2021?

Probably being in the village with all the different athletes from other sports, exchanging stories and hearing about how they go about their training, what they do and what excites them. Being part of that kind of “team Australia” and being in a different environment as opposed to just the rugby training room. That was pretty cool.

What do you love most about playing Rugby Sevens?

Probably the travel I got to do as a young fella. I went to a lot of parts of the world that I probably wouldn't have had a chance to go to otherwise. I managed to sneak in an Oktoberfest over there once as a cool work trip, yeah, I was eighteen, nineteen, travelling around the world playing rugby with my mates and I was just loving it. So hands down that was easily the highlight.

What did you love most about your Sevens experience, on the field?

Probably the Hong Kong tournament, that was wild. The atmosphere over there - it was probably the loudest stadium we've ever played in! They go crazy and that was awesome to be a part of. It’s a pretty prestigious tournament, so to be able to tick that off was unreal. 

Yes, I have watched a few of them! What do you love about the fifteen man game, that made you want to focus solely on it?

Probably just that it was the game I grew up playing, so I fell in love with it. And I definitely had aspirations to try and play for the Wallabies one day. And I still have goals in that code that I wanted to to achieve and I always knew that eventually I wanted to come back and try and do those things. So I think that was a a big ticket for me, trying to try to get back into Fifteens.

Final question: what’s your favourite post-game meal?

Post game meal… maybe a couple of cold beers after a win. They always go down pretty nice. I’ll have to change over to a Four X now, so I guess a Four X Gold now I'm up here!

Thanks Lachie for taking time to chat, especially in the middle of a busy training week!!!

No dramas at all. Good to finally sit down with you and have a have a good catch up.  Appreciate it!