Dane Tilse (born 24 January 1985, in

Scone, New South Wales Scone is a town in the Upper Hunter Shire in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2006 census, Scone had a population of 5,624 people. It is on the New England Highway north of Muswellbrook about 270 kilometres north of Sydn ...

) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer who last played for the

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challen ...

in the Super League. He previously played for the

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugby ...

in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

. His position of choice is at . At tall, Tilse was one of the tallest players in the NRL.

Playing career

Tilse made his first grade debut for Newcastle in Round 15 2004 against the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won fifteen Ne ...

which ended in a 48–4 loss. Tilse joined the

in 2006. Tilse went on to play over 200 games for Canberra and featured in four finals campaigns for the club. On 1 April 2015, Tilse signed a year contract with

. On 3 September 2017, Tilse came out of retirement to play for the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. They compete in Australasia's premier rugby league competition, the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, th ...

in their

Intrust Super Premiership NSW The NSW Cup, currently known as the Knock-On Effect NSW Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a rugby league competition for clubs in New South Wales. The competition has a history dating back to the NSWRFL's origins in 1908, starting off as a reserv ...

elimination finals match against North Sydney. Newcastle won the match 40–18.

Controversy

Tilse and other

players were involved in a drunken incident in

Bathurst, New South Wales Bathurst () is a city in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. Bathurst is about 200 kilometres (120 mi) west-northwest of Sydney and is the seat of the Bathurst Regional Council. Bathurst is the oldest inland settlement in ...

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 Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain Charles Napier Sturt, a British explore ...

for breaching the club curfew. Tilse was also de-registered by the NRL for a period of twelve months. Amidst the controversy, the Knights terminated 20-year-old Dane Tilse's contract for conduct "contrary and prejudicial to the club and the NRL". Tilse later apologised for his part in the drunken rampage.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tilse, Dane 1985 births Living people Australian rugby league players Canberra Raiders players Hull Kingston Rovers players Newcastle Knights players Rugby league players from Scone, New South Wales Rugby league props Scone Thoroughbreds players