Luke Yates (born 6 March 1995) is an Australian professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who plays as a and for

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

. He previously played for the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

, and the

Huddersfield Giants The Huddersfield Giants are an English professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. Huddersfield play their home games at the John Smiths Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league sy ...

, the

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, England. They play their home games at Plough Lane and currently compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rugby le ...

and the

Salford Red Devils The Salford Red Devils are a professional rugby league club in Salford, England. They play home games at Salford Community Stadium in Barton upon Irwell and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugb ...

in the

Background

Yates was born in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. He played his junior rugby league for the

Western Suburbs Rosellas The Western Suburbs Rosellas, Western Suburbs, Wests, The Rosellas are a Rugby league club based in the Newcastle, NSW region of Australia. It was a foundation member of the Newcastle Rugby League in 1909 and has been one of the most successf ...

, before being signed by the

Playing career

Early career

From 2013 to 2015, Yates played for the Newcastle Knights'

NYC New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive wit ...

team. In May 2015, he re-signed with the Newcastle club on two-year contract until the end of 2017. In July 2015, he played for the

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

under-20s team against the

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

under-20s team. In 2016, he graduated to Newcastle's

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 reserve ...

team.

Newcastle Knights

In round 1 of the

2017 NRL season The 2017 NRL season was the 110th season of professional rugby league in Australia and the 20th season run by the National Rugby League. The season started in New Zealand with the annual Auckland Nines, and was followed by the All Stars Match, ...

, Yates made his

debut for Newcastle against the

New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...

. Yates made a total of 19 appearances for Newcastle in his debut year as the club finished with the wooden spoon for a third consecutive year. In September, he re-signed with Newcastle on a one- contract until the end of 2018. He finished the year with 19 appearances. Luke Yates

Yates only managed to play 6 NRL matches for the Newcastle club in 2018 before parting ways at the end of the season.

London Broncos

Ahead of the 2019 season, Yates joined the

in the

on a one-year contract. He was second in the Top Tackler award at the Betfred Super League Awards evening on 6 October 2019, after completing 1211 tackles over the course of 28 games in the

2019 Super League season Super League XXIV, known as the Betfred Super League XXIV for sponsorship reasons, was the 2019 iteration of and the 24th season of the Super League and 125th season of Rugby Football League Championship, rugby league in Great Britain. Twelve ...

. After being relegated from the Super League on points difference, he left the club at the end of his contract.

Salford Red Devils

Yates signed for

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

from the London Broncos in October 2019. During the 2020 season he signed a two-year contract extension, which would see him through to the end of the 2022 season. On 17 October 2020, Yates played in the 2020 Challenge Cup Final defeat for Salford against Leeds at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

Huddersfield Giants

On 24 December 2020, it was announced that Yates would join the

from the 2021 season. He joined Huddersfield for a significant transfer fee as his Salford contract still had two seasons left to run. He was made team captain for Huddersfield for the 2022 season Yateshg

On 28 May 2022, Yates played for Huddersfield in their 2022 Challenge Cup Final loss to

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

. Yates played 24 matches for Huddersfield in the 2023 Super League season as the club finished ninth on the table and missed the playoffs. Yates played 14 games for Huddersfield in the 2024 Super League season which saw the club finish 9th on the table.

Warrington Wolves

On 15 July 2024 it was reported that he had signed for

in the

initially on loan until the end of the 2024 season, and then a permanent two-year deal thereafter. On 7 June 2025, Yates played in Warrington's 8-6 Challenge Cup final loss against Hull Kingston Rovers.

Representative

On 25 June 2021 he played for the Combined Nations All Stars in their 26-24 victory over

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, staged at the

Halliwell Jones Stadium Halliwell Jones Stadium is a rugby league stadium in Warrington, England, which is the home ground of the Warrington Wolves. It has also staged Challenge Cup semi-finals, the European Nations Final, the National League Grand Finals' Day, two g ...

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

, as part of England’s

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received � ...

preparation.

References

External links

London Broncos profileSL profileNewcastle Knights profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Luke 1995 births Living people 21st-century Australian sportsmen Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate rugby league players in England Combined Nationalities rugby league team players Huddersfield Giants captains Huddersfield Giants players London Broncos players Newcastle Knights players Rugby league locks Rugby league props Rugby league players from Newcastle, New South Wales Salford Red Devils players Warrington Wolves players Western Suburbs Rosellas players