Brent Tate’s fight back from career-threatening injuries a daily battle

COWBOYS star Brent Tate’s has revealed his fight back from career-threatening injuries remains a daily battle.

COWBOYS star Brent Tate’s has revealed his fight back from career-threatening injuries remains a daily battle.

Test and Origin star Tate said he was deeply affected by seeing Cowboys teammate Lachlan Coote suffer a season-ending knee injury at the Nines, knowing just how difficult the young fullback’s journey is to return to the NRL.

Coote is not the only NRL star likely to miss most of the year. Melbourne’s Matt Duffie (knee), South Sydney’s Luke Keary (pectoral muscle) and Newcastle’s Jarrod Mullen (hamstring) head the long-term injury list.

“When I saw what happened to Cootey, I couldn’t stop thinking about him all weekend,’’ Tate said.

“When that stuff happens you know the disappointment that comes along with it.

Cowboys player Brent Tate.

“You’ve just got to have faith that there will be a stage where you get to and you’re going to be right, you’re going to be playing footy and playing week in and week out.

“That is the only thing I held on to, you’ve just got to have that belief that if you work hard enough it will change at some stage. You’ve just got to hang in there.

“I’ve always been a believer that good things happen to good people.”

That journey back to the top is something Tate is still grappling with as the repeated injuries that have plagued his career have left mental scars that simply refuse to depart.

Even though Tate has reclaimed his Test and Origin jerseys after his third knee reconstruction, the mental challenge remains an issue to this day.

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Tate believes conquering the battle of the mind is the toughest part of dealing with long term injuries and the injured young NRL stars about the importance of perspective.

“It’s a mental battle and it doesn’t stop when you get back and start playing because a whole new battle starts again,” he said.

“You’re dealing with the unknown of how you’re going to go again. The battles never stop and to be honest I still fight them today.

“There is not a game or a training session really that goes by that I don’t think about it either.

“No one is immune to it, that’s why not everyone is playing sport because it is a bloody tough thing to do.

“The thing you’ve got to realise you can’t be in it the whole time. There are times where you can’t be disciplined for that long all the time. There are times where you drop your guard down a little bit and you might not do something the way it should be done.”

Brent Tate and Johnathan Thurston fool around on the sideline during training.

One thing Tate has taken away from Coote’s misfortune is a reminder to not look too far ahead.

That is why things like playing on next year or continuing his Origin career with Queensland remain issues he has cast aside for the time being.

“I know as well as anyone that a week is a long, long time in our game,’’ he said.

“Look at Cootey for instance, it can just be ripped away from you in the blink of an eyelid.

“(Origin jerseys) are very hard to turn down but also if I didn’t think I could do the job then I do have too much respect for the jersey to just (take it).

“If I didn’t think I could do it I wouldn’t and that is how I’ve always approached it.

“It is such a special side. We just have to wait and see.’’