He then played his junior rugby league for the Paddington Tigers and attended Matraville Sports High School in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs.

[6][7] Tamou played for the Roosters' NYC team in 2008 and was one of the club's best performers, before signing for the North Queensland Cowboys for the 2009 season.

[12] On 12 April, Tamou and teammate Blake Leary were suspended by the North Queensland club for one game for "breaking team alcohol rules".

[15] In April, despite just weeks earlier expressing his desire to represent New Zealand, Tamou pledged his allegiance to Australia and New South Wales.

Tamou had received phone calls from then New South Wales coach Ricky Stuart and captain Paul Gallen about making the switch.

[16][17] On 20 April, Tamou made his Australian international in the Anzac Test, playing off the interchange bench in the 20–12 win at Eden Park.

[18] On 22 May, Tamou made his State of Origin debut for New South Wales, starting at prop in the Blues 10–18 loss at Docklands Stadium in Melbourne.

[24] In game 1 of the 2013 State of Origin series, Tamou was selected for New South Wales and started at prop in a 14–6 victory over Queensland at ANZ Stadium.

[49] In round 1 of the 2017 NRL season, Tamou made his club debut for the Penrith Panthers against the St George Illawarra Dragons, where he started at prop in the 10–42 loss at Jubilee Oval.

[50] In 2018, Tamou was not selected in the NSW Blues State of Origin squad for the second year in a row despite Penrith being on top of the table after 13 rounds and the player showing good form.

[52] Tamou made a total of 24 appearances for Penrith in the 2019 NRL season as the club finished a disappointing 10th place and missed out on the finals for the first time since 2015.

[55] Tamou played a total of 19 games for the Wests Tigers in the 2021 NRL season as the club finished 13th and missed the finals.

[58] Tamou signed a one-year deal to return to the North Queensland Cowboys for the 2023 NRL season, playing his first game off the bench in the side's round 1 win over the Canberra Raiders.

Tamou's next appearance came in North Queensland's round 4 win over the Gold Coast Titans, where he scored a try but sustained a lisfranc injury and was sidelined for 21 weeks.