{"id":662177,"date":"2026-06-28T04:11:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T04:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/662177\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T04:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T04:11:16","slug":"st-helens-lee-briers-takes-subtle-shot-at-matt-peet-as-successful-academy-system-claim-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/662177\/","title":{"rendered":"St Helens’ Lee Briers takes subtle shot at Matt Peet as \u2018successful academy system\u2019 claim made"},"content":{"rendered":"

\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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

It might be over six weeks since the comments were made but St Helens assistant Lee Briers has not forgotten what Matt Peet said about the Red Vee \u2018losing their identity\u2019 as he made a veiled dig towards the Wigan boss in his pre-match presser.<\/p>\n

Following Wigan\u2019s Challenge Cup semi-final win over the Saints, Peet claimed that St Helens\u2019 loan of Bill Leyland in the Good Friday derby was an example that the club had \u2018lost their identity\u2019<\/a> in a comment that has been talked about plenty since it was made.<\/p>\n

Even now, over six weeks on, it\u2019s still being referenced albeit this time by St Helens assistant coach Lee Briers as he pointed to the club\u2019s academy system and huge number of young players who will take the field today against Bradford Bulls.<\/p>\n

With Daryl Clark out for today\u2019s game at Odsal<\/a>, Tom Humphreys is expected to play plenty of minutes and when praising the youngster, Briers aimed the first of two subtle shots towards Peet.<\/p>\n

On the hooker, Briers said: \u201cHe came on and did a real good job, Tom. Full of energy and earned his place on the bench and kept it this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s another product of the successful academy system that we\u2019ve got. We\u2019re really looking forward to seeing what he can do this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Super League standards slipping, Leeds\u2019 latest signing, and the big England squad debate \u00a0\u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

St Helens assistant hails youth ahead of Bradford clash<\/p>\n

Short of stopping there after referencing the club\u2019s \u2018successful academy system\u2019, Briers spoke about just how many young players could play against Bradford.<\/p>\n

Three possible debutants have been named in the 21-man squad whilst all of Owen Dagnall, Harry Robertson, Tom Humphreys, Jake Davies, and George Delaney are aged 22 or younger, whilst the likes of Jake Burns and Jack Welsby are also homegrown talents.<\/p>\n

On that, Briers quipped: \u201cIt\u2019s not bad that, is it, really? Considering we\u2019ve not been promoting youth, it\u2019s not too bad that, in my eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for how he and Paul Rowley will coach the players, Briefs revealed that the shackles are firmly off for St Helens\u2019 young players.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing what young players bring is an enthusiasm and an energy. We\u2019re not going to harness that. We\u2019re going to let them go and enjoy it. Obviously, we\u2019ve got some principles how we want to play, but they\u2019re here for a reason. They\u2019re good players.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got no issues with a young squad. It gives people opportunity. We\u2019ve got plenty of potential so I\u2019m really looking forward to the challenge.\u201d<\/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":"It might be over six weeks since the comments were made but St Helens assistant Lee Briers has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-662177","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\/662177","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=662177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}