On the 14th June 1978, Lee Briers was born in St Helens. He grew up only a stones throw away from Knowsley Road, a pitch he would be gracing a few years later. Lee took his first tentative steps as a Rugby League player when aged five for St Helens Crusaders. Lee obviously stood out from the crowd at a very early age as at nine years old he won the St Helens Crusaders Player of the Year title for the whole club and won it again two years later at age eleven. This was something that was to continue throughout his career.
During his years as a schoolboy Lee represented school, club and town to a very high standard and was invited to top gun training at age twelve. At the end of his under 12’s season in 1989 Lee was selected to represent Lancashire.
The following year in 1990 the under thirteen St Helens Crusaders side won the Lancashire cup beating Leigh East 22-10 with Lee scoring 10 of the 22 point haul. In the same season Lees' school side won the St Helens Cup and where beaten finalists in the English Schools cup final. In 1993 as an under fifteen Lee was selected as part of the North West Counties squad that went on a 12 match tour of Fiji, New Zealand and Australia. This kind of form continued all the way through Lees' years with the Crusaders.
Lee was also an accomplished footballer and was a member of the Liverpool FC academy. It was Rugby League that attracted him to its professional ranks and soon saw him sign on with St Helens and to star as a threequarter in their academy team.
Lee endured massive success with the St Helens academy when in both 1995 and 1996 they won the Academy Challenge Cup final with Lee winning the Man of the Match award in the 1996 final. In the 1997 season Lee made his break through into the first team and played out of his skin in the Challenge Cup semi final whilst standing in for the injured Bobbie Goulding, however he wasn’t selected for the final as Goulding had regained his fitness. Warrington saw the chance to snap the youngster by paying the sum of £65,000 for his services.
Lee was rewarded for all his hard work in 1997 when he won the Super League Young Player of the Year at nineteen years of age. A Warrington player ever since Lee Briers has been the mainstay of the Warrington side for 10 years. He was selected for his international debut in 1998 at the age of twenty and was the stand out player for Wales in the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. He was made captain of Wales in 2005, the same year he went on to captain his beloved Warrington a position he still holds to date.
Lee is fourth in the all time point scoring table for Warrington and has just broken through the 2000 points barrier. In 2006 Lee Briers was statistically the best half back in Super League; his tally of 40 try assists was 13 ahead of his nearest rival whilst his 10 40/20’s where 6 more than his nearest rival and with 29 clean breaks Lee wiped the floor with every other half back in the competition.
For all his hard work and dedication over the last 10 years Warrington have awarded Lee a testimonial season in 2007 and the events planned will give every section of the clubs fan base the opportunity to say thank you to the amazing Rugby League player that is Lee Briers