If you ask new St Helens signing Tristan Sailor what he is most excited about in 2025, it is working with assistant coach Lee Briers. If you ask Briers what excites him about the Saints squad for this season, it is Sailor.
Sailor is somewhat an unknown but exciting talent that is joining the Super League from the NRL. The 26-year-old is known for his pace and eye for space in the 16 matches he played for the Brisbane Broncos.
It is at the Broncos he met Briers, with the former Warrington Wolves half-back coaching Sailor and convincing him to make the jump to Super League alongside him.
St Helens have given Sailor the no 6 jersey for the 2025 season and while it is a big leap of faith that he is going to be their new playmaker, Briers believes Sailor is going to show everyone the instinctive and driven player he is.
“Well, there’s two kinds of player. There’s a coachable player, and there’s an uncoachable player, and Tristan is certainly coachable,” Briers said.
“He’s his own man, he’s a leader, but he is in our office every single day looking to get better, and he takes what we’ve got to give him, and practices, and also gives us ideas.
“I think his main strength is he’s really coachable, and he’s probably one of the best blokes I’ve known in rugby league.
“For him to come over here, a long way from home, and settle in like he does, it’s unbelievable. He’s a great asset to our club.
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“Tristan’s a really instinctive player, so we want to keep that, and also teach him about how to control in games.
“Like I said, he’s really coachable and open to do that, but first and foremost, that instinctive kind of rugby league player, where he sees things that we can’t coach, and we don’t want to ever take that out of him.
“I want him to enjoy and excel in what he does.”
St Helens’ Jack Welsby is hopeful they can take home the Super League trophy after they finished sixth last season, their lowest finish in the Super League ever.
It is ‘special’ to have access to Briers’ ‘smarts’
It is also not lost on Sailor what an opportunity it is to work alongside the coaches he has at Saints, with nearly 1,500 Super League games played between head coach Paul Wellens, Briers, and James Roby.
Now, he just wants to combine his talent with their experience to perform the best he can for the Saints in 2025.
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“He (Briers) is so good. And I think his smarts are just sort of unmatched. And so he’s sort of transferred a lot of that,” Sailor said.
“It is funny because he brings in different structures based on the team and the teams you’ve played.
“So I guess I’ve seen his range of ideas and how he applies that to different players in different situations.
“I’ve learned so much from him over the past two years and I’ve got lots of learning ahead.
“He’s played over, what, 400 games and he’s such a legend over here. So it’s really special to have someone like him here to sort of show you the ropes a bit more.
“And same as Wello (Paul Wellens), Wello played in the spine as well and you’ve got Robes (James Roby) too. That’s a lot of experience in those three players.
“And then on top of that, Jonny Lomax, Jack Welsby, Daryl Clark, that’s a lot of experience in the team as well.”
St Helens get their Super League campaign under way against Salford Red Devils on Saturday February 15, which you can watch live on Sky Sports at 5.30pm. Sky Sports will again show every game of the Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining four matches each week shown on Sky Sports+
