NRL: Tate not ready to fold, despite knee

Brent Tate faces months of therapy. Photo / Janna Dixon

Brent Tate had so much to look forward to this year.

He was fully fit, the Warriors appeared to have the potential to finally win an NRL title and, when he wasn't thinking about rugby league, he had his seven-month-old son, Kyden, at home.

Kyden is still there. In fact, he will see his dad a lot more than anyone imagined. It's the only consolation for Tate who now has the arduous task of recovering from a second major knee operation in two years.

The lonely days and months of rehabilitation while his team-mates train, and then play, await. It's not something the 27-year-old relishes.

"That's the worst thing, not playing," Tate says trying to maintain his composure. "There's no reward at the end of the week after your hard work. The reward was always playing.

"That's the hardest thing at the moment, the mental side of it all. Just trying to deal with another season on the sidelines. It's a funny sort of a feeling, because I feel like I have let the guys down. I know it can't be helped but that's the way I feel."

At times in the three weeks since Tate tore the cruciate ligament in his right knee playing against his old club Brisbane he has contemplated retirement.

The game he loved had dealt him another dud hand. Tate doesn't do poker faces well - he is emotional on and off the field - but he wasn't ready to fold.

Few would have blamed him if he had chucked it in.

First there was the serious

neck injury in 2003, which he reinjured in 2005. The specially-designed neck brace he wears each time he plays is a reminder of how close he came to giving the game away.

Then there was the serious injury to his left knee in 2006 when playing for Queensland. And now the right knee.

"I guess at times it gets a bit tough, especially this time,"

he says. "I think this one has really taken the wind out of my sails. I got over the left knee and

I was finally starting to find my feet again and this one comes up.

"It takes a toll. It really hurts this time. I have been through it before and I will do it again. I am quite confident I have the strength to do it again. I will come back.

"I love playing footy and I'm passionate about playing for the Warriors. Hopefully I can come back next year and continue where we left off."

Tate had showed signs of getting back to his best. By his own admission he struggled to get back up to speed, literally, after his first knee operation but by the end of last season had re-established himself as one of the classiest backs in the NRL.

He opened 2009 with two tries in two games before he felt his knee pop trying to step around a Broncos defender.

He knew what he had done straight away and his worst fears were soon confirmed as he was helped from the field.

"It was almost surreal," he remembers. "As soon as I felt it go, it was almost like slow motion. Everything slowed down and all the thoughts started running through my head."

There will be no comeback of Wade McKinnon proportions, timed for the playoffs. One of the reasons his surgery was delayed until last Tuesday was so it would rule him out for the season. He doesn't have to rush his rehabilitation now.

"At this stage of where I am at [mentally], I didn't need the pressure of coming back this year," he says.

"It's been a really tough couple of years for me. That's footy. Some players go through it. I have been really proud of the way I have come back before. I know I will work really hard again and I will come back. Just at the moment it's about getting the head around it."