St Helens coach makes ‘realist’ comment as plan confirmed and spine questions answered

St Helens assistant coach Lee Briers has admitted that the club and coaches are well aware that the team are not yet perfect, explaining that they are ‘realists’ and that there is a plan on how to approach the final third of the season.

It’s fair to say that it has been a huge transition for St Helens with Paul Rowley joining as head coach and trying to implement his own style of rugby. Making that even more difficult has been just how hard-hit Saints have been with injuries, including several season-ending ones with the latest of those being Matt Whitley, whilst George Whitby could miss anywhere from eight to 16 weeks due to a knee injury.

Given that the Grand Final is in less than 16 weeks, Whitby could also be out for the rest of the season, dependent on how bad his injury is.

Whilst that’s obviously a major blow, it could also eliminate the selection headaches that have existed in recent weeks with the spine now seemingly picking itself, due more to availability than anything else.

Jack Welsby has played the last four games at full-back, whilst Tristan Sailor and Jackson Hastings seem the obvious duo in the halves but when asked if he now expects spine continuity, Briers pointed to his side’s bad luck in 2026.

“If I had a magic ball, I could answer that question, but how many combinations have we had at half-back,” he asked when speaking at a press conference ahead of last week’s win over Bradford Bulls.

“I would love it if we could go Tristan, Jacko and Jack Welsby, all three of them in the spine, that’d be great but next week could be different.”

St Helens ‘not perfect’ as Briers explains importance of Jack Welsby

It almost was different as there had been suggestions that Jackson Hastings could receive a ban for touching the unconscious Will Gardiner late on in Saints’ win, however, the Match Review Panel seemingly saw sense and decided not to charge the playmaker.

That means Saints will likely have their full-strength spine, providing Daryl Clark is back, for Sunday’s clash against Wigan Warriors at Magic Weekend, a fixture that helped launch the career of Jack Welsby back in the 2020 Grand Final.

On the full-back, who it’s fair to say has not hit the heights expected of him in 2026, Briers said: “We look forward to Jack getting more games under his belt. He’s missed a real big chunk of the season.

“When we’re trying to change philosophy, change the way we play, Jack’s a big part of that so we’re probably catching up again to make sure that we can get that right.

“Jack’s been wonderful around the team. As we all know, he’s a quality, quality player and he only makes us stronger.”

Briers also explained just how much injuries have affected the team, not only on game day but in every other aspect, noting: “People just see the 80 minutes on the game day. When you have so many injuries, it affects training, it affects your quality of training, it can affect your systems in training, it can affect your intensity of training.

“There’s a whole heap of things, but again, we’re doing what we can with what we’ve got.”

That saw Briers also accept that the club have not been perfect but he asserted that there is a plan in place with Saints still vying for silverware this season.

Briers admitted: “We understand that it’s not been perfect. We understand that but we’re realists as well.

“We’re working really hard. The team are working hard. The club is working hard. Like I said, we’re ready to give people an opportunity. Rowls has got a plan and we’re all aligned and we’re ready to attack this back end of the season.”