Lee Paul Briers (born 14 June 1978) is a professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

coach who is on the coaching staff of the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

, and a former

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

international

footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. A

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and Wales international representative or , he played in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

for St. Helens and the

Warrington Wolves The Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England, that competes in the Super League. They play rugby at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, having moved there from Wilderspool in 2004. Founded as Warrington Z ...

(with whom he won three

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

finals).

St Helens

Briers started his career with hometown club St. Helens, and he made his début in 1997 at the age of 18, standing in for suspended captain

Bobbie Goulding Robert Dennis "Bobbie" Goulding (born 4 February 1972), also known by the nickname of "Bobbie Dazzler", is an English former professional rugby league footballer, and coach, who played in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, and has coached in t ...

. Immediately prior to being recalled by St Helens for his début, Lee had been on loan at

AS Carcassonne Association Sportive of Carcassonne are a semi-professional rugby league football club based in Carcassonne in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie in the south of France. They play in the French Elite One Championship and a ...

to gain some valuable first team match experience, along with three other academy youngsters, namely, Nick Devine, Danny Rigby and Richard Shields He made six appearances for the Saints club, scoring one try and 24 goals, with his performances helping Saints to reach the 1997

Final. Briers was dropped following the return of Goulding to the starting lineup, and learned that he might not even be included in the squad for the upcoming Challenge Cup final. Seeking regular first-team football, he joined

in April 1997 for a fee of £65,000.

Warrington

Briers made an instant impact at his new club. His presence as a added an attacking edge to the Warrington team and he was nominated for Young Player of the Year in his first season at

Wilderspool Stadium Wilderspool Stadium was a rugby league stadium in Warrington, England. The ground was Warrington RLFC's old ground before moving to the Halliwell Jones Stadium. History In 1898, Warrington RLFC moved to the Wilderspool Stadium. A 10-year lea ...

. Having made his

début in 1998, Briers went on to make 23 appearances for his country and featured in the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. Briers was capped by Great Britain against France in their 42-12 win on 26 October 2001. Briers went on to become the primary playmaker of the Warrington team, and was named as captain in 2003. During that time Briers became well known for his excellent kicking skills and his ability to successfully convert drop goals. He currently holds the Super League record, and jointly Warrington all-time record (with Paul Bishop), for the most drop goals in a game (5 against Halifax at

the Shay The Shay is a sports stadium in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. The stadium is owned by Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council and leased by the Shay Stadium Trust, a not-for-profit company set up to preserve the ground as a sports stadiu ...

in 2002). Briers'

Testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

took place in 2007 and he stepped down as captain at the end of the season. Following the Wales team's failure to qualify for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

, Briers announced his international retirement. Briers played in the 2010 Challenge Cup Final victory over the

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. Briers came out of international retirement to represent Wales in the 2010 European Cup, and captained the side to victory in the tournament. He went on to captain Wales in the 2011 Four Nations, before once again retiring from international rugby league at the tournament's end. The 2011 Super League season was Briers' 14th. During this season he broke a number of club records including top all-time points scorer, having overtaken club greats

Brian Bevan Brian Eyrl Bevan (24 January 1924 – 3 June 1991), also known by the nickname of "Wing Wizard", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s who became the only player ever to have been induc ...

, and Steve Hesford. He broke the record during a Challenge Cup home 112–0 demolition of Swinton. This match also saw Briers break his own club record for points in a match (set 11 years earlier against York), with 44 points, from 16 goals and three tries. He played in the

2012 Challenge Cup Final The 2012 Challenge Cup Final was the 111th cup-deciding game of the rugby league 2012 Challenge Cup Season. It was held at Wembley Stadium in London on 25 August 2012, kick off 14:30. The final was contested by Leeds Rhinos and Warrington Wolves ...

victory over the

. He played in the

2012 Super League Grand Final The 2012 Super League Grand Final was the 15th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of the Super League XVII season. The match was held on Saturday 6 October 2012, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by ...

defeat by the

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

. In 2013, during the second match of the season against Wigan Warriors, Lee suffered a neck injury which saw the Warrington ace out for 13 games. He returned for a Tetley's Challenge Cup fifth round tie against Salford City Reds in which he made not only a try scoring return but also kicked his 1,000th career goal. He played in the

2013 Super League Grand Final The 2013 Super League Grand Final was the 16th official Grand Final and conclusive and championship-deciding match of Super League XVIII. The game was held on Saturday 5 October 2013, at Old Trafford, Manchester, and was contested by Wigan Warrio ...

defeat by the

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors are a professional rugby league club in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the Super League. Formed in 1872 as Wigan Football Club, Wigan was a founding member of the Rugby Football League, Northern Rugby ...

. In November 2013, although Briers had a year remaining on his contract, he announced his retirement due to a neck injury. He played 425 games for Warrington, scoring a club record 2,586 points. Shortly before announcing his retirement, Briers released his autobiography, ''Off the Cuff''.

References

External links

Great Britain Statistics at englandrl.co.uk (statistics currently missing due to not having appeared for both Great Britain, and England)Profile at warringtonwolves.com
*(archived by web.archive.org
2001 Ashes profileWarrington’s World Cup heroes – Lee BriersProfile at saints.org.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Briers, Lee 1978 births Living people AS Carcassonne players English rugby league coaches English rugby league players Great Britain national rugby league team players Lancashire rugby league team players Lance Todd Trophy winners Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from St Helens, Merseyside St Helens R.F.C. players Wales national rugby league team captains Wales national rugby league team players Warrington Wolves captains Warrington Wolves players