Wallabies star Tate McDermott has revealed the raw and honest conversations that led to the Queensland Reds’ leadership shake-up, and is poised to catapult him towards career-best form.
In the aftermath of a fourth-straight quarterfinals exit last year, McDermott sat down with fellow co-captain Liam Wright to discuss what the club needed to end the procession.
Wright had not yet announced his departure from Ballymore. McDermott had not suffered the hamstring injury which will keep him sidelined until roughly the halfway point of the Super Rugby Pacific campaign.
Former Queensland Reds co-captains Liam Wright and Tate McDermott.Credit: Brendan Hertel
Their discussions centred around the “holding pattern” the Reds had found themselves in for the past four seasons – McDermott alluding to a tendency to “keep raising and lowering our bar to whoever we’re playing”.
It ultimately led to Fraser McReight taking the captaincy for season 2026, as McDermott sought out coach Les Kiss to encourage a change.
“We identified that whilst we have really good leaders across the park, there might be a way for us to develop more leaders in that space. If that was through us stepping backwards, we thought that was the way to go forward,” McDermott told this masthead.
“I don’t want Fraser to feel that burden of sole leadership … you can feel like that sometimes. My role now is to just support Fraser and help develop those leaders so we’ve got a strong core of leaders, as opposed to just strong leaders individually.”
While the 27-year-old believed the end of his four-year captaincy stint would allow him to take his game to new heights, he was unwilling to entertain the prospect of catapulting into the Wallabies’ No.9 jumper at this stage.
“Once I get back on the field I can look to address that,” McDermott said, having spent the past two years as a momentum-shifter off the bench.
“It is a long time to lead as a halfback, but it gives me a chance to make sure I can be a little more selfish in terms of my injury and make sure I’m fully right physically and mentally to attack the back end of the year.
“If you’ve got your mind on too many different things, it’s really hard to grow in certain areas, and now it gives me a really good chance to hone in on some of those areas.”
As McDermott continues his recovery, McReight took his first strides as skipper – a 36-12 season-opening defeat to the Waratahs. But according to Harry Wilson, the captaincy would bring out the best in the superstar flanker.
Wilson, the incumbent Wallabies captain, has been a close friend of McReight’s dating back to their schoolboy rugby days, and the pair have forged one of the more lethal back-row combinations in Super Rugby.
The reigning World Rugby No.8 of the Year – who will miss the opening rounds after undergoing off season knee surgery – declared McReight would not only find an extra gear as a leader, but ignite the best in those around him.
“Whatever team he’s in he leads from the front … so nothing changes too much for him,” Wilson said.
“It’s probably hard for him to keep finding extra gears because he’s probably been the best player in Super Rugby for a few years now, but I think the extra responsibility will only bring out more from him.
“I think for ‘Wrongers’ it’s about just trying to get his body right, and once he does that then he’s the type of player who could go wherever he wanted to,” McDermott said of the one-time Wallabies captain.
“It’s huge shoes to fill, he was someone who was here with me from the start and there are not many boys from when I started left. His presence around the group is really hard to replicate.”
“It’s on everyone else in leadership roles to step up because he used to do quite a lot of work behind the scenes,” Wilson added.
“It’s now the chance for the next generation of leaders.”
McReight will lead the team onto Suncorp Stadium for the first time on February 27 when the Reds clash with the Highlanders, having lost their campaign launch against the Waratahs.
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