Aussie loose forward, 29, details where it went wrong before looking to make his mark after surprise switch this week
Luke Yates says he’s joined Warrington to make history and leave his Huddersfield heartache behind.
The Aussie loose forward will make his Wolves debut against St Helens on Friday following this week’s surprise switch. He was initially set to join Sam Burgess’ side in 2025, but Warrington paid a fee to expedite the deal. Huddersfield, currently out of playoff contention for the second consecutive year, recently sacked boss Ian Watson.
Yates, 29, says he “jumped” at the chance. “I’m joining a team sitting second with really good players who are all performing well. I don’t think I need to change anything.”
“But if I can help in any way—defensive stuff, which is more what I bring to the table, or attacking—I just want to fit in and contribute to their success. These are the games you want to play in, and to make my Warrington debut against Saints is really special. Hopefully, we get the win.”
Yates has yet to win a major trophy, having lost the 2020 Challenge Cup final with Salford under Watson and suffering the same fate two years later after following his coach to Huddersfield. He hopes to help break Warrington’s long-held Super League duck and said, “Only four clubs have won it, so it’d be amazing to help Warrington become the fifth.
“It would be massive, especially knowing how close they have been in the past. That’s what I’m here to do. I don’t really see any value in just ticking by. I don’t play for money. I want to look back at my career in wins and championships. This is a step forward to put myself in that position.”
Yates had hoped to achieve success with Huddersfield but admitted: “It was pretty up and down. The first season [2021] we expected too much out of ourselves. The 2022 season was successful. We flunked out at the back end, but coming third and getting to the Cup final was really big.
“We were going to go from strength to strength in 2023 but fell on ourselves. The opportunity to captain the team has been a massive privilege and to represent them and the birthplace of rugby league. I don’t look on it negatively. But I wish we’d done more. It’s disappointing we didn’t.”
Meanwhile, Yates recalled facing his new boss, Sam Burgess, in the NRL. He said: “I was only 22 and playing just my third or fourth first-grade game for Newcastle. I was probably ten kilos lighter than now, so don’t know why I did this, but I took a tap and ran at Sam. He knocked me back about ten metres and just rag-dolled me about! He won’t remember, though. He flogged that many players in his time.”