Tate McDermott

Tate McDermott is arguably the most livewire Wallaby halfback of the professional era. Said to have “darting in his DNA”, McDermott has caused no end of havoc among opposition defence structures with his sniping runs and instinctive forays, especially in and around the heavily trafficked ruck zone.

McDermott played his junior rugby for the Flinders Rugby Club in Buderim, Queensland however his first love was surf lifesaving. That changed in 2012 when childhood mate Matthew Barclay drowned during the U15 board race at the national Surf Lifesaving Championships. "That was a big moment in changing from the surf pathway, cutting it off and sticking to rugby,” McDermott later recalled. After a year-and-a-half at Brisbane State High School, where McDermott wanted to challenge himself in the GPS competition, he moved back to Sunshine Coast Grammar. McDermott said the change was the “best move I could’ve made” for his rugby career, as he stood out rather than being “just another player” among in the rich pool of GPS talent.

Once home, he was spotted by Queensland development officer Paul Carozza (Wallaby #687) and included in the Emerging Reds program. In his final year of school, McDermott represented Queensland Schoolboys before being named as a reserve for the Australia ‘A’ / Barbarians.

Aged just 18, McDermott made his debut for the Australian Men’s Sevens side at Wellington, helped University of Queensland to premierships in both Colts and Premier Grade and played in Queensland Country’s NRC title-winning campaign. In 2018, McDermott made his Super Rugby debut, against the Rebels, before a stellar 2020 campaign, one in which he was instrumental in guiding a re-birthed Reds into their first final since 2011, put his name firmly in the frame for higher honours.

McDermott went on to win his first Test cap, off the bench against New Zealand in Sydney and found himself involved in an intricate three-way tussle for the number nine jersey with Nic White and Jake Gordon. He has appeared in most of the Wallabies' Test matches in the last three years while scoring important tries, most notably in the first and third Tests against the British & Irish Lions in 2025.