MATTY LEES is looking forward to his big testimonial match – and believes St Helens fans should be too, with a new-look side to be unveiled.
Saints play Castleford this Saturday (3pm) to celebrate the start of Lees’ tenth season as a first-teamer.
The prop is now club captain but that’s been far from the only recent change.
Paul Rowley has replaced Paul Wellens as head coach, promising to bring attacking flair from previous club Salford, while squad recruits include former Red Devils Jackson Hastings and Nene Macdonald, plus World Cup-winning Australia forward David Klemmer.
All could get their first red-vee run-out this week and Lees told League Express: “We’ve worked hard to change things behind the scenes from the last two years.
“I feel like that’s what the fans have been crying out for and the club have reacted. We’ve signed in the areas we needed to. Hopefully we can fine-tune it and it’ll be a good year.
“He (Rowley) is definitely going to want to improve our attack, and you can already see that in training. He wants to play an exciting brand of rugby.
“The likes of Jackson Hastings and Tristan Sailor are exciting players and we really want to get the best out of them.
“Then we’ve got strike players like Nene Macdonald, and we’ve got another big frontrower in David Klemmer, who I’ve enjoyed training with in recent weeks.”
Hastings and Klemmer both lent a hand to Lees’ first testimonial event last Thursday, a sold-out forum.
Further events are in the works for later this year as the England star’s contribution to the sole club of his career is celebrated.
Still only 27, Lees has already enjoyed plenty of success, with his first Super League, Challenge Cup and World Club Challenge wins among the highlights.
“The Challenge Cup is such a massive occasion and to do that in 2021 (beating Castleford at Wembley) was a great achievement,” he said.
“We’d not won it for years, so to get there and win, in the circumstances during Covid, was a special moment.
“My first Grand Final, after missing out in 2019, to get there in 2020 and win that (Grand Final against Wigan) was special.
“I worked so hard to get back from my ruptured bowel (suffered in a match against Leeds, requiring emergency surgery), which looked like being life-changing at the time.
“I managed to put myself back in the picture for that season and the way it happened, with Jack Welsby scoring on the final hooter, it’ll never be done again.
“Scoring in the Grand Final in 2022 against Leeds (after two minutes and 26 seconds), the fastest in a Grand Final – I’ve only got seven tries to my name and that’s one of them!
“And the World Club Challenge at Penrith (in 2023), that’s one of my proudest achievements, knowing that everybody wrote us off, saying that we’d never beat Penrith in their back garden.
“We managed to do it and that’s one of the best moments in my career.”