LEE Briers admitted to “having goose-bumps” when discussing his return to his hometown club as assistant coach after a gap of 27 years.
Having spent the last two years coaching at Brisbane Broncos, following spells with Wigan and Warrington, Briers will bring an outside pair of eyes to his role at Saints.
And the primary focus of his attention will be the Saints attack stating that “there is work to do” on their identity as “The Entertainers” but is confident of accomplishing that with the players at their disposal.
He is excited to be teaming up with Paul Wellens, with whom he played alongside in the Academy halves in the 1990s.
Briers said: “It's pretty emotional, I've got goose-bumps and now it’s getting confirmed the hairs on my arms are standing up.
“I'm genuinely so excited.
“In sport you can be a professional, you can give your all for different clubs and you can have great relationships and bonds - but there is nothing like playing or coaching for your hometown club.
“Me and my family never left the town and for 27 or so years I've had to put up with being seen as kind of like the enemy, but now it's just a surreal moment for me and my family – I can’t wait.”
When Wellens’ contract was extended by a further year last month, chairman Eamonn McManus underpinned it with a declaration that the team would be strengthen on and off the field.
Already Saints have brought in some pace amongst the trio of NRL signings Tristan Sailor, Kyle Feldt and Lewis Murphy.
Briers now provides the off-field assistance, but it is not clear at this stage how that impacts on those currently in post.
“My conversations with Wello have been everything I thought they would be, in what is a fabulous leader,” he said.
“I'm so excited to work under him, learn from him, and add my bit to make the team where the team should be,” Briers said.
Although 2024 season has been bedevilled by injury the silver lining of that often very dark cloud has been the graduation of some of the youngsters from the Academy.
Briers says he is excited at the prospect of working with the seniors whilst helping to shape the next generation of talent too.
“To me, St Helens’ identity has always been ‘Saints are The Entertainers’ and there’s a bit of work to do.
“Paul will direct me on what I need to do and what he feels is right to do, I will also have bring my ideas and we will come up with a plan where we will have St Helens being ‘The Entertainers’ with the likes of the players we will have.
“I’m looking forward to working with the young players, they’ve been thrown in at the deep end through nobody’s fault, but next year those guys are players we know can come in and we can trust.
“Hopefully, I can add along to their journey.”
Having been at the top of the tree for so long, including the incredible four-in-a-row Super League success, suddenly it feels a long time since Saints were lifting the World Club Challenge at Penrith at the start of 2023.
And Briers knows the level of expectation at St Helens, and ties in with his goal to achieve silverware.
He said: “My job as a coach is to make sure that the process, every single day that I'm challenging every player, and that they are challenging me. We are all in it together to reach that end goal.
“We'll be making sure that we're doing everything right on a daily basis, having fun along the way, and connecting with everybody again.
“Connecting the Club to the town, to the fans even more, we are all on that journey.”
Briers made his Saints first team debut in the victorious Challenge Cup fixture against Hull in February 1997 – the first of a half dozen appearances when then skipper Bobbie Goulding was hit by a six-match ban.
The18-year-old Briers played in the Challenge Cup semi-final against Salford, but was sold to Warrington before the date at Wembley.
There he played 425 appearances in the Primrose and Blue, becoming their all-time leading points scorer with 2,586 points.
Following his retirement in 2013, Briers began working as a youth coach with Warrington, before becoming First Team Assistant Coach in 2018, a role he would hold until late 2021.
His next move saw him join the Wigan Warriors and he was part of their coaching team which won the 2022 Challenge Cup before flying out to Brisbane.
In his first season Down Under, Assistant Coach Briers played his part in getting the Broncos to the 2023 NRL Grand Final.
That same autumn he was named England Men’s Assistant Coach, and the national side earned a victorious series whitewash over Tonga – with Wellens his opposite number under ex-Saints boss Kristian Woolf.
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