{"id":591301,"date":"2026-05-18T21:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/591301\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T21:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:40:11","slug":"st-helens-to-make-recruitment-decision-after-matty-lees-blow-as-emerging-star-hailed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/591301\/","title":{"rendered":"St Helens to make recruitment decision after Matty Lees blow as emerging star hailed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Super\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

St Helens could look into the recruitment market to replace star prop Matty Lees, boss Paul Rowley has revealed.<\/p>\n

Lees went down in the opening minute of the Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Wigan Warriors last weekend, and it has since been confirmed that he will miss the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

The England international already missed 10 weeks to begin the year, going down in the opening game of the season against Workington. He only managed to feature in a total of five games in 2026, including the minute-long stint against Wigan.<\/p>\n

With a big body like that going down and such a hefty chunk of the season to go, Saints could be tempted to bring in new additions to bolster their middle unit.<\/p>\n

However, decisions and discussions have only just begun, with the turnaround from the Challenge Cup loss to the Round 11 tie against Huddersfield \u2013 five days \u2013 leaving little room for the Red Vee to sit down and converse.<\/p>\n

That being said, Rowley is open to the idea of bringing a fresh face in, be that on loan or permanently.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have a look and I\u2019ll have some discussions here at the club,\u00a0but we\u2019ve not had them yet, the Saints boss said prior to the game against the Giants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a short turnaround, as we\u2019ve alluded to,\u00a0so discussions have been not as forthcoming\u00a0as they would have been if we\u2019d have had more time to do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll get this game out of the way, and then we\u2019ll settle into it and have our usual chats,\u00a0which are always ongoing and fluid in, like, every situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brodie Croft\u2019s Leeds Rhinos exit & Hull FC\u2019s unwanted record \u2013 click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

St Helens boss discusses Matty Lees replacement options<\/p>\n

Should the Red Vee look to keep their squad as is, one man who will need to step up to being a regular starter is George Delaney.<\/p>\n

With David Klemmer and Alex Walmsley both used as impact and destructive players, Saints need to pair that with more of a ball-playing, lighter, more mobile prop \u2013 something which Lees did excellently.<\/p>\n

Still only 22, Delaney has played 89 times for his hometown club, and it\u2019s easy to forget how he is still developing given how long he has been in and around the Saints first team.<\/p>\n

Noah Stephens, who missed the win over Huddersfield due to a HIA, is another expected to play increased minutes, whilst the club have unearthed another promising forward in Jake Davies over the past month, though he has not featured in the last two.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St Helens could look into the recruitment market to replace star prop Matty Lees, boss Paul Rowley has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-591301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/503687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}