ST HELENS have announced that forward Matty Lees has signed a new four-year deal, ensuring that Lees will remain a Saints player until at least the end of the 2029 season.
The Merseyside club has revealed that they turned down offers from both Super League and the NRL to secure Lees’ services.
Lees has been an integral player across the Saints’ Super League title-winning years from 2019 to 2022, with a Challenge Cup in 2021 and World Club Challenge in 2023 added to his record too.
Since making his official England debut in 2022, Lees has played nine times for his country, starting in seven of those, including all three games of the series whitewash over Tonga in 2023, and last autumn’s victories over Samoa.
To date, Matty Lees has played 166 times for St.Helens and has just begun his ninth season in the Red Vee.
Lees said: “I’m really excited, this is such a great club and I’ve got lots of great memories here over the last few years. We’ve probably struggled in the last couple of years but the memories I have at this club are unbelievable and I want to try and carry that on.
“I want to try and get us back on track, that’s a real focus of mine and the next big challenge for me as a leader in this team. I want to try and put my mark on it now and really hold our own.”
Lees will go into his tenth season as a St.Helens First Team player in 2026, and after penning his four-year extension he reflected on his personal story so far as a Saint.
“It’s a scary thought that I’m coming up to ten years at the club next year. – it’s gone so fast! The journey it has taken me on, all the injuries, all the silverware we’ve won, and all the special memories I have with the different groups that have come through in those ten years. I’m looking forward to the next few years now.”
Head Coach Paul Wellens commented on Lees’ extension and said: “Matty has been incredible from the very first day he came into the Club, and his influence on the team has grown. Now, he is very much a leader in every sense of the word and we are delighted that Matty will continue his career with us.
“His teammates look up to him and respect him, and that will only grow moving forward. Matty is an elite player, an international-class player, and someone that I think not just people in this club but everybody can look at with the way he plays and you have to respect him for what he does on the field.
“We want to build our team around people like Matty Lees and he’s a great influence not only on the senior players but also the young players. The likes of George Delaney and Noah Stephens, young middle forwards have that role model in Matty to look up to.”
