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!