[3] Tilse made his first grade debut for Newcastle in Round 15 2004 against the Sydney Roosters which ended in a 48–4 loss.

On 3 September 2017, Tilse came out of retirement to play for the Newcastle Knights in their Intrust Super Premiership NSW elimination finals match against North Sydney.

[4] Tilse and other Newcastle Knights players were involved in a drunken incident in Bathurst, New South Wales in 2005 in which a 19-year-old woman was sexually assaulted.

Although no official complaint was made and police did not lay any charges, the Newcastle board sacked Tilse and issued fines totalling A$50,000 against 12 players over the incident at Charles Sturt University for breaching the club curfew.

[7] Amidst the controversy, the Knights terminated 20-year-old Dane Tilse's contract for conduct "contrary and prejudicial to the club and the NRL".