If you commissioned a coach to create a quintessential warrior with all the qualities required to play Origin for Queensland -- extraordinary courage, passion, heart, and pride -- then the chances are high that Brent Tate could emerge as the perfect prototype.
Tate fought ferociously for every metre he made on a football field, but Origin was special.
Every time Tate pulled a Maroon jumper, over his head -- which he did 23 times between 2002-2014 -- he displayed those essential qualities and more for Queensland.
He also played another 26 games for Australia with the extremely heavy physical toll on his mind and body taking its toll.
But yet Tate somehow always found that inner strength to come out the other side when many others would have quit.
Ask him what it means to represent the people of Queensland and wear a Maroon jumper and Tate becomes quite emotional to the point where he struggles to put his feelings into words.
When called up to make his Origin debut in Sydney in 2002 -- a few months after his 20th birthday -- Tate said he felt overwhelmed by an “outer body experience” as he ran onto Stadium Australia in front of 75,000 fans.
That’s what it means to achieve a childhood dream.
Tate was born in the rural town of Roma in Queensland’s Maranoa Region but moved to Toowoomba, then to Redcliffe growing up.
Roma was also the birthplace of another great rugby league warrior and immortal, Arthur Henry Beetson, FOG #1, a proud indigenous man who lit the Origin fuse at the Lang Park Cauldron in 1980 when Tate was just a toddler.
Tate grew up watching Wally Lewis dominate Origin in his family home at Redcliffe, where Beetson also moved after leaving Roma many years earlier, and always dreamt of playing rugby league.
That’s where his love for the maroon jumper and his passion for Queensland started, watching Origin games with his mother in their Redcliffe family home.
“Mum would be watching the game and she’d say: ‘They’ve got to put Dale
Shearer on’ and Rowdy would come onto the field and sure enough he’d score a try and she’d say: ‘ see, I told, you, I told you.”
“For me though, Wally was always the man.”
It’s no surprise Tate’s key role in Queensland’s record eight-straight series wins holds a special place in his heart.
And it's fair to say His role in five of those eight series wins, 2006-07-08-2012-13, was significant.
No more so than when he streaked 90 meters down the sideline to score his favourite career try that pulled Queensland back from the jaws of defeat to win the game that started the eight series streak.
Had the Maroons lost that game, it would have been four series losses in a row for Queensland and the Origin concept would have come under threat.
“That was probably my most complete night as a player that game,” said Tate, recalling his long-range try and Lockyer’s subsequent match-winner.
“I had a similar game playing my first Origin back after being out of the Queensland team for four years when I was man of the match.
"They were both very special nights."
Being part of the eight-straight Maroons is not something I am proud of, -- it is something I am extremely proud of.
“Everyone in Queensland knows about that streak and to be a part of it is something I hold very dear.
“There was a connection with that group of players that will be with me for the rest of my days.”
Anyone who represents Queensland has to make a lot of personal sacrifices.
In Tate’s case, he had to battle through some very dark and testing times, so tough in fact, most players probably would have given up, and with good reason.
Tate though never quit on any team he played for, especially not Queensland.
It was always in the forefront of his mind to do the jumper proud and honour those great players who had worn it and shed blood before him.
His is an amazing story of great resilience, extreme mental toughness, incredible determination and some might even say, craziness.
Running through Tate’s career, from his debut for Brisbane off the bench in NRL round 21 of 2001 until he finally succumbed to the rigors of rugby league after 229 NRL games with three clubs -- Brisbane, Warriors, and North Queensland -- give you an insight into his character, his courage, and most of all his sheer desire to be a winner.
Add the 49 Origins and Tests to his impressive tally of career games and ns and 26 Tests for Australia and Tate probably pushed his body to the extreme, perhaps even beyond human boundaries.
Just a few years into his career and playing against New Zealand in a Test match in 2003 in which he scored two tries, Tate’s promising rugby career looked in jeopardy after he sustained a concerning neck injury which cast doubt about his ability to keep playing.
From that game onwards, Tate played with a specially designed neck brace to protect him from more permanent damage.
While most players put on boots, pads and mouth guards, Tate put on his boots, mouthguard and his special armour before each game.
“Being able to wear the neck brace definitely saved and extended my career,” Tate told FOGS.com.au.
“I would not have been able to keep playing without it.”
If that wasn’t enough to contend with, Tate endured not one, not two or even three ACL ruptures over the next decade, but four!
Each time he gritted his teeth and took on the mental and physical pain and stress of getting himself back on the field.
Why?
“I asked myself that same question many times,” he says.
“Had the doctors told me it was time to pull the pin, I would have, but nobody ever did.
“Nobody ever said that’s enough.
“There was a lot of mental adversity after each one and that was tested a lot throughout my career.
“There were a lot of really dark days and in hindsight, looking back now, the way I finished my career (fourth ACL) I sometimes wished I had pulled up a bit earlier instead of pushing it.
“But you did it because you loved it and it was my job.
“To be honest I can’t really tell you how I did it, I just did it.”
It’s painful and tedious process to come back from one ACL operation but Tate summonsed the character to do it four times.
I remember interviewing Tate as a young player at the Broncos at Red Hill in the early 2000s and he struck me as a kid who had an air of confidence about him.
I wouldn’t say it was a brash arrogance, more like an inner confidence he could do the job.
One day at training I left my tape recorder laying around and when I found it I rewound it to listen to an interview I had recorded a little earlier.
What I found was a humorous mock interview that Tate had done with another young Bronco player, stitching me up with all these cliched questions and answers.
He had a bit of spirit about him even back then.
So I was a little surprised when he confided during our latest interview for FOGS that even when he played his 23rd and final Origin game, he still harbored some “self-doubts”.
“It took me a really long time to feel I belonged in that group (the eight straight club) to be honest, he revealed.
“What I always did really well I guess was prepare properly so I gave myself my absolute best chance to play well every game.”
Tate made his Origin debut in 2002 in the same Queensland team as his brother-in-law Steve Prince who played 28 games for the Maroons.
It was a very special night for both men and their families as Queensland retained the shield courtesy of a 15-all draw in game three.
“I still cherish the photos I have from the game with Pricey and our families,” Tate said.
“That made it even more special doing it with him, a player I idolised growing up.”
Tate scored plenty of tries for Brisbane, the Warriors and the Cowboys, Queensland and Australia, 102 of them to be exact.
But his favourite was a long range try from near his own line to spark Queensland’s magnificent fightback in game 3 of 2006 when they were in danger of losing their fourth straight series until Darren Lockyer came to the rescue in the dying minutes for an 16-14.
Queensland then went unbeaten until the 2014 series, a streak which may never be equalled.
“Records are always broken,” said Tate.
“But I think this one will stand for a long, long time and that’s something to be incredibly proud of.”