BCA: Nathan Yates joins Darley as playing coach

He is moving from Mt Clear with teammate Jarrod Burns.

Yates is one of the BCA's most decorated players of the 2000s.

They are among three major signings for the Lions from within BCA ranks, which also include reigning Cleary Medallist and all-rounder Sajith Dissanayaka from Napoleons-Sebastopol.

Darley continues Yates' BCA journey, with him having been at North Ballarat and East Ballarat.

"Nathan brings a wealth of experience to the Lions Den," Darley stated in announcing the appointment.

"We are looking forward to Nathan working with our experienced and emerging senior playing group."

Yates, 42, won his first two Cleary Medals with East Ballarat in 2008-09 and 2010-11. He was also a premiership player with the Hawks.

The all-rounder joined Mt Clear as captain-coach in 2013-14 after a Geelong CA premiership with Lara - going on to being a premiership player and winning the 2015-16 and 2018-19 Cleary Medals.

Yates has also represented the BCA, coached the BCA's Melbourne Country Week squad and played for Vic Country.

He phased back his playing career after a life-threatening illness in 2020, but did return to the role of coach at Mt Clear in 2020-21.

Yates and Burns were each members of Mt Clear's seconds division two premiership team last season.

Yates had a fine run last summer, making 484 runs at an average of 60.5 and took 14 wickets at 18.14.

Burns, who lives in Darley, was also prominent with 599 runs at 14.75.

Burns played his early cricket with North Ballarat and also had a stint VRI Delacombe, where he was a premiership captain-coach and won the BCA District best and fairest award, the Bernie Davey Medal in 2017-18.

He is also a former North Ballarat and Mt Clear captain.

Darley won premierships in 2019-20 and 2020-21, and was runner-up in 2021-22.

The Lions missed the finals last season, finishing sixth - 20 points outside the top four.