[3] He was born in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea as David Moore on 4 November 1988, and moved to Australia as a 12-year-old where he attended Kadina High School and Trinity Catholic College in Lismore, New South Wales.

He was part of the Papua New Guinea squad for the 2009 Pacific Cup,[11][12] and was named their player of the year by the Rugby League International Federation.

[13] A regular on the wing in 2010, Mead was one of the club's leaders in many statistics before a foot injury saw him miss the rest of the season from round 16 onwards.

Despite the Titans poor record in 2011 where they finished with the Wooden Spoon, Mead played in every match and was the club's top tryscorer with 16 tries from 24 appearances.

[18] In round 23 against the North Queensland Cowboys, Mead became the first Gold Coast Titans player to score 50 tries for the club during their 22–10 loss at 1300SMILES Stadium.

In October, Mead represented Papua New Guinea in the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, playing in all 3 matches at fullback.

[22] In round 11 against the New Zealand Warriors, Mead played his 100th NRL career match in the 24–16 loss at Cbus Super Stadium.

[29] On 7 May 2015, Mead captained Papua New Guinea in the 2016 Melanesian Cup Test against Fiji, where he played at fullback in the 24–22 win at Parramatta Stadium.

[34] On 18 February 2017, Mead made his Broncos debut in the 2017 World Club Series match against the Warrington Wolves where he started on the wing and scored a try in the 27–18 loss at Halliwell Jones Stadium.

[45] Mead played a total of 17 games for Les Catalans in the Super League XXIV season as the club finished 7th on the table and missed out on the finals.

[46] Mead played 7 games for the Catalans Dragons in the 2020 Super League season including the club's 48–2 semi-final defeat against St Helens.