[2] He played his junior rugby league for the Redcliffe Dolphins and attended Clontarf Beach State High School, where he represented the Australian Schoolboys in 1999.

[3][4] Tate made his National Rugby League debut for the Brisbane Broncos in Round 21 of the 2001 season, in a match against the Melbourne Storm at the Colonial Stadium.

On 12 July 2002, Tate made his international debut for Australia from the bench in a one-off test against Great Britain at the Sydney Football Stadium, with the Kangaroos running out easy 64-10 winners, scoring 11 tries to 2 in their biggest winning margin over the Lions.

In the final against defending champions New Zealand at the Sydney Football Stadium, Australia had a hard-fought 16–12 win in extra time, again thanks to a try to captain Darren Lockyer.

Tate was selected to play for the Australian national team on the wing in the 2007 ANZAC Test match against New Zealand, scoring a try in the Kangaroos' 30–6 victory.

[7] His career with the Broncos was cut short while playing for Queensland during Game III of the 2007 State of Origin series, where he suffered a season-ending knee injury to the medial and anterior cruciate ligament.

Tate's 2009 season was cut short, when in a Round 3 clash against his former club Brisbane, he suffered another season-ending injury when he damaged his anterior cruciate ligament in the process of being tackled.

[citation needed] He returned to the field in 2010, and with injuries early in the season to Steve Price, Simon Mannering and Micheal Luck, Tate stood-in as captain of the Warriors.

Tate, who as of 2013 played his last game for Australia in the final (in which he scored a try), was the tournaments equal leading try scorer with 4 alongside Junior Sa'u (NZ) and Tony Clubb (England).

Tate's first season with the North Queensland outfit in 2011, was disrupted by the rupturing of his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the Four Nations Final the previous November.

[12] The injury caused him to consider retirement; however, he recovered to make his debut for North Queensland in round 19 of the 2011 season, and played in the team's qualifying final loss to the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.

On 3 September 2014, Tate announced his retirement from Rugby League after accepting medical advice that returning from the ruptured ACL sustained during that year's State of Origin series was one fight too many.