DOB: 21 September 1964
Debut: Round 8, 1984 against Fitzroy at Junction Oval
Last Game: Round 21, 1995 against Adelaide at MCG
From: Prahran
Number: 45 (1984), 8 (1985-1995)
Honours
Grand Final team - 1988
Best First Year Player - 1984
Reserves Premiership player - 1993
Life Member - 1993
VFL premiership coach - 2000
Games: 182
Goals: 45
Career Statistics
| Wins | Draws | Losses | Winning % |
| 97 | 1 | 84 | 53.29 |
Yeats climbed through the ranks of his local side Prahran to debut at the end of 1982 at 17-years-old, then crossed to Melbourne's Under 19s side the next year. He made his senior debut in 1984 and won the Best First Year Player award.
Yeats played 23 games in his first two years, and despite only managing six games in 1986 the tough defender was often one of the better players in poor teams during his first three seasons. Yeats became a regular in 1987 just as the Demons began to emerge into a finals term, and after starting his career as a wingman eventually became one of the most reliable defenders in the competition. He was converted to defence when Alan Johnson suffered an injury in the 1990 pre-season. After appearing as a regular in the side until 1993 he only managed seven games that year and was initially axed from the list before returning to play two more years.
Yeats ended his AFL career for good after six games at the end of 1995, a year that featured an accusation of racial abuse from Justin Murphy of Richmond. Yeats denied the charges and the matter was settled after mediation. He retired at the end of the season. After joining Springvale as an assistant coach in 1996, Yeats kicked the winning goal in that year's VFA Grand Final, before returning to Melbourne as Reserves assistant coach and senior runner in 1997.
Yeats moved to Sandringham in 1999, and coached them to the to the 2000 VFL premiership. Also worked as a Melbourne development coach between 2001 and 2003 before leaving to become coach of the TAC Cup Dandenong Stingrays in 2004, where he remained until the end of 2013. Coached Port Melbourne Colts from 2021.
| Year | Games | Goals | Brownlow |
| 1984 | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| 1985 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| 1986 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 1987 | 23 | 8 | 3 |
| 1988 | 26 | 9 | 6 |
| 1989 | 16 | 8 | 0 |
| 1990 | 23 | 9 | 6 |
| 1991 | 15 | 4 | 1 |
| 1992 | 19 | 5 | 4 |
| 1993 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| 1994 | 19 | 0 | 1 |
| 1995 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
Tribunal Record
| Match | Charge | Sanction | |
| Round 15, 1986 | Striking | 2 matches | |
| Round 14, 1987 | Striking | 2 matches | |
| Round 11, 1992 | Striking | 3 matches | |
Lists
VFA
Media
Inside Football - 24/05/1989
Age - 08/04/1990
Age - 19/05/1995
Age - 30/01/1997
Melbourne Past Players newsletter - 01-02/2021
Links
Demonwiki image gallery
VFA Project profile
Wikipedia profile