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BRISBANE - Brisbane winger Brent Tate has been ruled out for the rest of the National Rugby League season and faces a full knee reconstruction.
Tate tore both his anterior cruciate ligament and medial ligament in his left knee during Queensland's 18-4 State of Origin III loss to NSW at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night.
He will have surgery early next week and be out for six to nine months, bringing to an end his seven-year career at the Broncos.
Next year he will join brother-in-law Steve Price at the New Zealand Warriors.
"The scans have revealed Brent has torn his ACL and MCL," said Broncos physiotherapist Rod Godbolt.
"He consulted Dr Peter Myers and we expect he will have surgery on Saturday or early next week. The normal rehabilitation time on an injury like this would be six to nine months.
"There is certainly no chance of him playing this year, so you would have to expect he would be back at some stage next year."
Tate, 25, suffered the injury when NSW winger Jarryd Hayne fell on his leg while attempting to smother the Queensland winger's attempted chip ahead.
Tate said he hadn't realised the extent of the injury while still on the field. "I thought I might have just done my medial ligament, so it hit me like a ton of bricks in the dressing room when the doctor told me what he thought I had done.
"All I can say is that I am bitterly disappointed because I realise I have probably played my last game for the Broncos. Now all I want to do is get the surgery done as quickly as I can and then just see how it goes."
Prop Willie Mason took aim at the NSW critics, claiming the Blues could have easily been lifting the State of Origin trophy in a 3-0 whitewash.
Queensland won the series 2-1 but the Blues can take some consolation from defeating a courageous Maroons outfit.
"It's weird. It's a mixed feeling," Mason said about winning an exciting "dead rubber" but losing the series.
"I know we didn't deserve a 3-0 whitewash. The side is very tight and we bonded well together.
"I just knew from the start of the week that we weren't going to get beat.
"It could have easily been us sitting here three-nil.
"That's how close the games are. It's not as though Queensland beat us by 50 [points] in both games."
Mason claimed the Blues should have won the first two games - in Brisbane and Sydney - but let their opportunities slip.
- AAP
